328 APPENDIX TO CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



enjoyed great vogue in haminercloths and muffs, and it is still used in 

 military caps and pistol holsters; so tbat lie is sometimes called the 

 army bear. Latterly the fur has fallen in value. Once it brought in 

 London from 20 to 40 guineas. It will now hardly bring more than 

 that same number of shillings. 



The beaver, amphibious and intelligent, has a considerable place in 

 commerce, and also a notoriety of its own as the familiar synonym for 

 the common covering of a man's head, and here the animal becomes 

 historic. By Royal Proclamation in 1638 Charles I of England pro- 

 hibited the use of any material iu the manufacture of hats "except 

 beaver stuff or beaver wool." This Proclamation was the death-warrant 

 of beavers iimuinerable, sacrificed to the demands of the trade. 

 Wherever they existed over a wide extent of country, iu the shelter of 

 forests or in lodges built by their extraordinary instinct, they were pur- 

 sued and arrested in their busy work. The importation of their skins 

 into Europe during the last century was enormous, and it continued 

 nntil one year it is said to have reached the unaccountable number of 

 600,000. I give these figures as I find them. Latterly other materials 

 have been obtained for hats, so that this fur has become less valuable. 

 But the animal is still hunted. A medicine supplied by him, and known 

 as the Castoreum, has a fixed place in the Materia Medica. 



The marten is perhaps the most popular of all the fur-bearing animals 

 that belong to oiir new possessions. An inhabitant of the whole wooded 

 region of the continent, he finds a favorite home in the cold forests of 

 the Youkon, where he needs his beautiful fur, which is not much inferior 

 to that of his near relative, the far-famed liussiau sable. In the trade 

 of the Hudsou Bay Company the marten occupies the largest 

 81 place, his skins for a single district amounting to more than 50,000 

 annually and being sometimes sold as sable. The ermine, which 

 is of the same weasel family, is of little value except for its captivating 

 name, although its fur finds its way to the English market in enormous 

 quantities. The mink, also of the same general family, was once little 

 regarded, but now, by a freak of fashion in our country, this animal haiS 

 ascended in value above the beaver, and almost to the level of the 

 marten. His fur is plentiful on the Youkon and along the coast. Speci- 

 mens in the Museum of the Smithsonian Institution attest its occurrence 

 at Sitka. 



The seal, amphibious, polygamous, and intelligent as the beaver, has 

 always sui^plied the largest multitude of furs to the Kussian Com- 

 pany. The early navigators describe its appearance and numbers. 

 Cook encountered them constantly. Excellent swimmers, ready divers, 

 they seek rocks and recesses for repose, where, though watchful and 

 never sleeping long without moving, they become the prey of the 

 hunter. Early in the century there was a wasteful destruction of them. 

 Young and old, male and female, were indiscriminately knocked on the 

 head for the sake of their skins. Sir George Simpson, who saw this 

 improvidence with an experienced eye, says that it was hurtful in two 

 ways: first, the race was almost exterminated; and secondly, the 

 market was glutted sometimes with as many as 200,000 a year, so that 

 prices did not i^ay the exi)ense of carriageii The llussians were led to 

 adoi)t the plan of the Hudson Bay Company, killing only a limited 

 number of males who have attained their full growth, which can be 

 done easily, from the known and systematic habits of the animal. 

 Under this economy seals have multiplied again, vastly increasing the 

 supply. 



Besides the common seal there are various species, differing in 

 ai)pearauce, so as to justify different names, and yet all with a family 



