2.—THE WOODEN HEAD AND RIBS.
The first part in the difficult task of mounting Tip was to build the manikin. The workmen sawed out of heavy planking a flat piece about the general shape of the big brute's side. This was supported by iron rods, in place of legs, bolted to the frame-work and to the temporary pedestal upon which the work was done. The wooden skull and leg bones were then screwed to the body, and other pieces of wood the shape of Tip's sides were fastened in place like ribs. A pair of handsome ivory tusks taken from some other real elephant were fitted to the skull, while another long plank was hung down between them for his trunk. Tip was nine feet and a half high at the shoulder, and eleven feet in length, so it was no easy task to reach all parts of his great body. Great ladders were built at each end of the manikin, and ropes were rigged from the ceiling over it, to haul up the heavy parts of the wooden animal they were creating.
3.—AFTER THE LATHS HAVE BEEN PUT ON.
Just as the carpenters build the walls of a house, these workmen covered the great ribs of their wooden elephant all over with laths. They nailed them to the frame-work, leaving his body hollow, and then for the first time the manikin began to take on the shape of a real elephant. His body looked more like some huge barrel, perhaps, than that of Tip, and his legs were a trifle stumpy and unfinished at the ends; he lacked a tail as yet, too, and his trunk was only a rough pine board; but the gleaming ivory tusks were there, and his head had a lifelike appearance that was very encouraging. But the difficult part of the work was just beginning, for the body must be made to fit exactly to the shape of the hide before it could be put on.
Excelsior was next called into use, and the lath-covered frame-work was completely enveloped in those thin shavings from wood so often used for packing china and glass. Bunches of it were tacked to the laths, and in some places it was tied on with string, while here and there a little lump was glued to the frame-work. The many photographs of Tip were gotten out, and measuring-tapes were used to get the exact size in all parts. For days the men were busy with nothing else but this work. They trimmed off corners here, and added patches there, as the defects in the manikin's shape were shown by the photographs and measurements.
4.—THE CLAY MANIKIN READY FOR THE HIDE.
At last the great hide was brought up from the cellar, and for the first time fitted to the wooden elephant. When Tip was skinned a year before, the men were careful to cut off the hide so that it would be easy to work with when they came to mount it, the two sides and the head being skinned separately. Now these three pieces of hide had undergone an elaborate preparation. They had been soaked for months in acids, and had been scraped and pared down to about an inch in thickness. If this tough skin were kept long in the open air it would have hardened so stiff that it would have been almost impossible to mount it. So it had been kept in a solution the workmen call "tan liquor," and when the manikin was finished an enormous tub containing these soaking hides was brought up to where the dummy stood.
