To form a girba, the skin must be buried in the earth
for about twenty hours: it is then washed in water, and the hair
is easily detached. Thus rendered clean, it is tanned by soaking
for several days in a mixture of the bark of a mimosa and water;
from this it is daily withdrawn, and stretched out with pegs upon
the ground; it is then well scrubbed with a rough stone, and
fresh mimosa bark well bruised, with water, is rubbed in by the
friction. About four days are sufficient to tan the thin skin of
a gazelle, which is much valued for its toughness and durability;
the aperture at the hind quarters is sewn together, and the
opening of the neck is closed, when required, by tying. A good
water-skin should be porous, to allow the water to exude
sufficiently to moisten the exterior: thus the action of the air
upon the exposed surface causes evaporation, and imparts to the
water within the skin a delicious coolness. The Arabs usually
prepare their tanned skins with an empyreumatical oil made from
a variety of substances, the best of which is that from the
sesame grain; this has a powerful smell, and renders the water so
disagreeable that few Europeans could drink it.
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