2. At first, the rider sat upon the bare back of the animal, and guided him with a switch, but afterwards with a strap put round the nose. In the course of time, the rider came to use, upon the back of the horse, the skins of beasts, in order to render his seat more easy. The Greeks, and many other refined nations of antiquity, sometimes used superb trappings, composed of cloth, leather, and skins dressed with the hair on; and, in addition to the gold, silver, and precious stones, with which these were ornamented, the horses were often otherwise decked with bells, collars, and devices of various kinds.
3. The Romans, in the days of the republic, deemed it more manly to ride on the bare back of the animal than on coverings. At a later period, they used a kind of square pannel, without stirrups; and about the year 340 of the Christian era, they began to ride on saddles. It appears, that those first employed were very heavy, as the Emperor Theodosius, in the same century, forbade the use of any which weighed over sixty pounds. The use of saddles was established in England by Henry the Seventh, who enjoined on his nobility the practice of riding upon them.
4. The frame of a saddle is called a tree. It is not made by the saddlers, but by persons who confine their attention to this branch of business. The trees are constructed of wood, with a small quantity of iron, and covered with canvas.
5. In making a common saddle, the workman first extends two strips of straining web from the pommel to the hinder part of the tree, and fastens them with tacks. The tree is then covered on the upper side with two thicknesses of linen cloth, between which a quantity of wool is afterwards interposed. A covering of thin leather, usually made of hog's-skin, is next tacked on, and the flaps added. Under the whole are placed the pads and saddle-cloth; the former of which is made of thin cotton or linen cloth, and thin leather, stuffed with hair. The addition of four straps, two girths, two stirrup-leathers, and as many stirrups, completes the whole operation.
6. The roughness, or the little indentations in the flaps, are produced by passing the leather between rollers, in contact with a rough surface, or by beating it with a mallet, on the face of which has been fastened a piece of the skin from a species of shark, commonly called the dog-fish.
7. Saddles are often covered with buckskin, curiously stitched into figures, and having the spaces between the seams stuffed with wool; this is particularly the case in side-saddles. The form of saddles, and the quality of the materials, together with the workmanship, are considerably varied, to suit the purposes to which they are to be applied, and to accommodate the fancy of customers.
8. The process of making bridles and harness for horses, is extremely simple. The leather is first cut out with a knife of some description, but usually with one of a crescent-like form, or with a blade set in a gauge, and then stitched together with the kind of thread used by shoemakers. The awl employed in punching the holes is straight; and needles are most commonly used, instead of the bristles which point the shoemaker's threads. The mode of manufacturing saddle-bags, portmanteaus, and valises, is too obvious to need description.
THE TRUNK-MAKER.
1. The manufacture of trunks is equally simple with that of making harness. In common cases, it consists chiefly in lining the inside of a wooden box with paper, or some kind of cloth, and covering the outside with a skin, or with leather, which is fastened to the wood by means of tacks. Narrow strips of leather are fastened upon hair trunks with brass nails, by way of ornament, as well as to confine the work.
2. Instead of a wooden box, oblong rims of iron, and very thick, solid pasteboard, fastened together by means of strong thread, are used in the best kinds of trunks. The frame or body, thus formed, is covered with some substantial leather, which is first stuck on with paste, and then secured by sewing it to the pasteboard with a waxed thread. Over the whole, are applied strips of iron, fastened with brass or copper nails with large heads. The lines and figures on the leather, added by way of ornament, are produced by a crease, a tool made of wood, ivory, or whalebone. Its form is much like that of the blade of a common paper-folder.