Men work the leather in the tanning and dying vats. The smell is quite strong, and we were given springs of mint to hold by our noses. The view is from a tall building on a hillside overlooking the work area. Each vat is about a meter across. The skins begin in the lye (the white vats near the back), are washed and then pickled in a sulfuric acid bath. They then spend several days in oil tanning liquors. After drying, the skins are scraped, stoned, and polished; finally they are steeped in vats of dye.