THE OTHER GREAT STAPLE FURS 149 



Wolf pelts sold in Montreal this year from #5 to #45. One 

 timber wolf brought $72 ; another unprime brought 70^. The 

 total of wolves sold in the spring sales numbered 155,000 for Europe 

 and America. 



Black bear make the best fur. Grizzly bear is the king in size 

 — 1 100 pounds he weighs — Polar bear come next, weighing close 

 to 800 pounds ; and others are known as brown bear, a variation 

 of the black ; silver tip, a variation of the grizzly ; and white bear, 

 a small inland variation of the Polar. White bear is a landlubber; 

 Polar, a sea lover. The range of the bear is from the Polar Sea to 

 the Rio Grande ; but the best bear fur comes from the North. 



Bear has commonly 2 cubs a litter and comes to maturity in the 

 6th or 7th year. I think the largest measurement given for any 

 bear is 9 feet for Alaska grizzly, the Polar running a close second 

 at 7 to 8 feet. White inland bear and black bear are smaller ; and 

 their fur is best for the trade, being used for coats, cuffs, collars, 

 trimmings. The coarser, larger bear skins are sold only for rugs 

 and robes. There is an estimate given that the trade takes a million 

 bear a year. I consider the figures wild. The spring sales of bear 

 in 1920 did not exceed 10,000 for Europe and America. 



The 'coon-like opossum is known to every boy who has gone 

 hunting in the South. It measures like the tree-climbing 'coon 

 from 4 to 3 feet, and is like the 'coon a mottled gray. The trade 

 uses 600,000 opossum in fur for one to two seasons. The price is not 

 high, nor is the fur a high grade. It is warm but is not durable, 

 and is used chiefly for cheap capes and trimmings and imitation furs. 

 Prices ran this spring from $2 to $4. 



Musk-ox is unlikely to come into the fur trade except as a robe ; 

 for it is strictly protected by Canadian law. 



Add to these furs the leopard and lion furs of Africa, the pony 

 of Russia, the goat of China and Tibet, the kangaroo and wallaby 

 or rock kangaroo of Australia ; and you have the 60 or more varieties 

 of marketable fur known to the fur trade. 



I have often been asked, what is the average catch of the average 



