CHAPTER ONE 



INTRODUCTORY 



The taking of FURS for clothing and the trading in 

 pelts is undoubtedly the oldest industry in the world. 

 This activity goes back many thousands of years 

 into the dim reaches of the Stone Age when the cave man, 

 crude hatchet or club in hand, killed the beasts of the field 

 so that he and his family could have covering during the 

 rigorous seasons of the year, and one may be safe in claim- 

 ing that the Neanderthal Woman was the first to choose 

 the handsomest pelt for keeping her flesh warm and for 

 enhancing her physical charms. 



It is known from cave pictures, that the Cro-magon 

 people wore animal pelts and, if styles in habiliments were 

 in vogue in that time, undoubtedly our antedeluvian an- 

 cestors had their favorites among the variety of haired 

 skins that could be worn. Turning our attention to the 

 age known as the Garden of Eden period, we find in the 

 third chapter of Genesis, twenty-third verse, that Adam 

 and Eve, at the behest of the Creator, wore the skins of the 

 beasts of the field following their expulsion — thus creating 

 £l change of style from the vegetable kingdom to that of the 

 animal. 



The Babylonians, Assyrians, Greeks, and Romans wore 

 furs, history tells us. Mention is made that Queen Semi- 

 ramis of Babylon in 2182 B. C. brought 8,000 tiger skins 

 to her country at the close of her campaign in India. Furs 

 were mentioned by Herodotus. 



In Biblical and pre-Biblical times, Armenia was the 

 principal fur center, its pelts being sent there from north- 

 ern Asia and Persia and traded to Greece, and ermine, the 

 fur insignia of royalty, is a word derived from Armenia, 

 so it is claimed by etymologists. 



Furs were worn in Egypt, its early records show ; Chi- 

 nese writings testify to the wealth they secured from furs 

 three thousand and more years ago, and the people of 



