The Fur Animals of Louisiana 11 



silver and azure in heraldric design and supposed to rep- 

 resent the fur on squirrel bellies worn only by the nobility. 

 So, a typographical error has been responsible for the belief 

 long held by English and American children that the slipper 

 the Prince found, which fitted only Cinderella's foot and 

 not those of her ugly and wicked step-sisters, was made of 

 a fragile substance such as glass and not of a durable 

 material such as fur. 



Aside from being the oldest industry known to man- 

 kind, the taking of furs has been instrumental, as has no 

 other factor, in the advancement of the world and its peo- 

 ple. On the North American continent, the Eskimos and 

 the Indians of the far north, the savages of the central part 

 of the continent, as well as the aborigines of the Gulf Coast, 

 used furs as a covering to keep their flesh protected from 

 the piercing winds and bitter colds of the winter months. 



The securing of furs has caused wildernesses to be ex- 

 plored; has led to wars and pillage; and has even changed 

 the maps of the world. There is no more romantic part 

 of our early American history than the winning of the 

 west and the treasure the early trappers, voyageurs, and 

 coureurs des bois, sought to win were the furry coats of 

 many animals that roamed the fastnesses of the forest. 



No other industry of North America, whether agricul- 

 tural, mineral, or forest has been the origin of such wealth 

 as has the fur industry. Before the forest trees were 

 leveled, before an acre of ground was cultivated, before a 

 mine was opened, the fur animals were a source of revenue 

 to the hardy pioneers, whether they landed on Plymouth 

 Rock, settled Maryland, fought the snow and ice of Hudson 

 Bay, or served under Iberville in the Gulf of Mexico that 

 Louisiana might be founded. 



The demand for furs in the Old World was primarily 

 responsible for the rapid colonization of North America, 

 and the catch of the Indians, eagerly bartered by the first 

 traders, formed the first wealth of the New World that 

 was freighted over the inland waters of the new land and 

 over the ocean to Europe. 



