42 Kciuicth S. Latoiu'cttc, 



portion of the skins obtained through it were used at home, what 

 sent to Europe, and what to Canton. UnUke the other two, it 

 did not have its origin in the desire to supply the China market, 

 and the Canton trade had but a minor part in it. At times, 

 however, it was important, and it probably had fewer fluctuations 

 than either of the other two branches. 



The treaty of 1795 with England by allowing for the first 

 time direct shipment of furs from Canada to the United States 

 is said to have increased our consignments of inland furs to 

 Canton.'"' It is probable that John Jacob Astor laid part of the 

 foundation of his fortune by shipping his furs to China. "^ It 

 is certain that his Astoria scheme had the China trade as its 

 central point. The object of this famous project was to estab- 

 lish a depot on the Northwest Coast to which furs could be taken 

 overland from inland trading posts, and from which trading 

 voyages could be sent along the coast. Annual vessels were to 

 be sent around Cape Horn to bring supplies to the depot, to 

 collect the furs gathered there, take them to Canton, and to return 

 around Africa with a cargo of teas, silks, and other China 

 goods."- The enterprise was a total failure. The depot was 

 founded, but the "Tonquin," the first supply ship sent out, came 

 to grief with the natives''-^ ; Astor's partners sold out to the 



Voyages, p. 509.) There was danger from shipwreck and danger from 

 lawless mutineers and still more from lawless natives. (As in the case 

 of the "Nautilus" which attempted to go to the Northwest Coast about 

 1797. The ship was driven back, refitted in Kamchatka, went to the Sand- 

 wich Islands, thence to Otaheite with the hope of going to Massafuero, 

 but was driven back again by storms and finally had to go to New South 

 Wales. William Smith, Journal of a Voyage in the Missionary Ship 

 Duff .... 1796-1802. New York, 1813, pp. 1 10-124.) 



•" Bancroft, Hist, of N. W. Coast, i : 521. 



" Ibid., and Walter Barrett, The Old Merchants of New York City, 

 New York, 1870, i : 417, seem to imply this, and James Parton, Life of 

 John Jacob Astor, New York, 1865, p. 49, distinctly says this, stating 

 that he sent his first ship there about 1800. 



^- Letter of J. J. Astor to J. Q. Adams, Jan. 4, 1823, in Greenhow, Hist, 

 of Oreg. and Calif., p. 439. See also on this Astoria project, Irving, 

 Astoria, Bancroft, Hist, of N. W. Coast, i : 512 ff., and 2: 136 ff., and Am. 

 Fur Trade, in Hunt's Merc. Mag., 3: 197-198. 



"^ Edmund Fanning, Voyages to the South Seas, Indian and Pacific 

 Oceans, etc., etc., New York, 1838, pp. 137-151. 



