KIRS 



43 



lllack Monkey (t'oliilnis ///</ -OV//A-) |>o8MemeH a 



Ion-.,'. Mack, silky fur, its present value being from 



In . .1 fairly high price compared \\itli its 



ii-u:il win-ill. About /iO.OOO to 100,000 an- iin]".i l.-.l 



year from tin- we-t coast of Africa. Tins 



Monkey (Cercopitheeus itintm) and a few 



other- -Mine as well from Africa. 



Musk rat or Musijiiasli ( /'/// :///< /A//-//.,-), a North 

 American fur, aliout three millioiiH of which arc 

 Imported yearlv, and used in nearly all countries, 

 either 'natural' or 'plucked' and dyed, when it 

 ni.-ik"- a common imitation of seal. The fur wan 

 formerly used for felting purposes. A black 

 variety found in Delaware is also used as a fur, 

 but in smaller quantities. Value of former, 6d. 

 9d. 



Nutria or Coypu Rat (MvopoteuMU i-ni/nua), from 

 South America ; the fur wnen ' unhaireu ' forms a 

 cheap substitute for beaver. Value, 8d. to Is. 9d. 



Australian Opossum (Phalangista vulpina), a 

 fur much in vogue on account of its cheapness and 

 bluish-gray natural tint ; many are manufactured 

 when uyed various shades. Some 2,000,000 are 

 importea every year. Price from 6d. to 2s. 3d. 



American Opossum (Didelphys mrginiana), an 

 entirely different fur from the foregoing, with 

 longer upper hairs of a silver-gray colour. Impor- 

 tation, 200,000 to 300,000 ; value/ Id. to 2s. 5d. 



Sea Otter (Enlii/ilm Lull-in], so abundant some 

 years ago, has now sadly diminished in numbers 

 owing to indiscriminate slaughter in former years, 

 only a thousand or two being now taken annually 

 at or near the Aleutian Islands. Its skin brings 

 the highest individual price of all furs, and even 

 as much as 225 has been paid for a single skin ; 

 ordinary values are from 20 to 70. The fur is 

 dense, rich, rather long, and fine, of a dark-brown 

 colour, the most highly valued skins possessing 

 silvery hairs. Chiefly worn in Russia. 



Otter ( Lutra canaaensis ) is characterised by the 

 stoutness and density of its fur, which is somewhat 

 short like seal ; used in most countries either in 

 the natural state or ' unhaired,' and sometimes 

 dyed. The general colour is from light to dark 

 lro\vn or almost black ; the finest skins come from 

 Nova Scotia and Labrador; about 16,000 are im- 

 ported annually from North America, though otters 

 are found nearly all over the world. Prices range 

 from 9s. to 9.~>s. for best. 



Rabbit (Lepus cuniculus), from its vast quanti- 

 ties (probably about ten to twenty million skins 

 are used annually), is the most widely known fur 

 in all countries, in all shapes and forms, both 

 'natural' and dyed; when clipped and dyed it 

 forms an inferior imitation of fur-seal. The 

 greater portion of the Australian importation 

 (about 6000 bales, containing each about 200 

 dozen ) is used for felting in the manufacture of 

 hats, &c. ; the fur when cut off for this purpose is 

 termed 'coney-wool.' 



Raccoon ( I'rucyon lotor) yields a serviceable fur ; 

 price from Is. 6d. to 7s. per skin, the best dark 

 -Inured, from 10s. to 20s. The colour is gray or 

 dark u r rav, often with a brownish-yellow tinge ; 

 the fur is widely used in both 'natural ' and dyed 

 . About 400,000 to 500,000 skins are yearly 

 imported from the United States. 



Russian Sable (Must flu .ilicllina), the most 

 costly of all furs, considering the small size of the 

 skin ; the quality extremely fine. The darkest 

 are the most valuable ; the usual colour an nmler 

 brown and less red than marten fur. Some of the 

 finest Yakutsk skins have realised up to 45 

 apiece (wholesale price), but a more ordinary value 

 s from 40s. to 90s. About 5000 to 6000 are sold 

 very year in London, of which many come from 

 Kamchatka and Okhotsk. 



Fur-seal (Callorhinus ursinus). The chief 



supply of th Ala-ska seal in from the Pribylol 

 Islaml- in the Itelii ing Sea, ami the take in now 

 regulated by a treaty of 1S94 Ix-tween Britain and 

 the I'nited States, which, after yearn of acrid 

 disputing, settled a close time and the number 

 of seals to be taken by either party to the 

 arrangement. Japan and the adjacent Bean pro- 

 duce fm seals; niany are also taken at (ape 

 Horn and Lobos Island, but the former great fin- 

 eries in the South Seas are nearly exhausted ; the 

 Antarctic skins (of which 834 came to London in 

 1892, 45 in 1893, and none in 1894) are still 

 reckoned the bent (see SEAL). In the salted 

 state they are very unsightly and dirty ; the first 

 process in their preparation, which is almo-t 

 entirely carried on in London, is ' blubliering ' 

 (removing superfluous fat, &c.), and the subsequent 

 ones, washing, 'unhairing' (i.e. removing the long, 

 coarse, or 'water' hairs), leathering, dyeing, shav- 

 ing the pelt, and machining, which last takes 

 away all trace of the * water ' hairs, leaving the 

 soft velvety under-fur so well known and justly 

 appreciated. 



Various other seals, such as the Common Seal 

 ( Phoca wi ul in a ), Greenland Seal ( P. areenlandica ), 

 Fetid Seal (P. fettda), and Hooded Seal (Cysto- 

 phora cristata ), though chiefly caught for the sake 

 of their oil and hides, are made use of in the fur- 

 trade, under the names of Spotted Hair Seals, 

 Bluebacks, and Whitecoats, the two last named 

 when dyed. The Greenland, Fetid, and Hooded 

 seals are taken in large numbers by the Dundee 

 whalers on the ice-floes near Greenland and New- 

 foundland, and it has been a common delusion 

 that these are fur-seals, which are, however, gener- 

 ally killed on land. 



Skunk (Mcji/iifix mephiticits) has greatly in- 

 creased as an article of commerce in the trade 

 since 1880, whereas forty years before it was hardly 

 known to fur-traders, being considered of little or 

 no value from the great drawback in its powerful 

 odour, but this has now to a great extent l>een 

 overcome. The colour varies from almost white 

 to a rich black, according as the two white stripes 

 are more or less pronounced. About 500,000 to 

 600,000 skins are trapped in the central parts 

 of the United States, a small quantity in the 

 Dominion of Canada. Value, 6d. to lls. 6d. 



Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris). About three mil- 

 lions are collected yearly in Sil>eria and in part of 

 Russia in Europe ; the chief trade for dressing the 

 skins and making them into the well-known cloak 

 linings is at Weissenfels in Germany. The tails 

 fetch an enormous price for making into boas ; a 

 few too are used for artists' brushes. Values vary 

 from a few pence to about Is., though the skins are 

 sold in the trade by the hundred. 



Wolf. The finest and largest (Canis Ivpv-s ocri- 

 (li-nfniis) come from Labrador and the Churchill 

 district ; the colour of these is sometimes white or 

 blue, besides the ordinary grizzled colour. Value, 

 7s. 6d. to 105s., and much esteemed for sleigh 

 robes. A smaller species, the Prairie Wolf (C. 

 latrans), is found in larger quantities in the United 

 States ; worth only 4s. lid. to Ss. A large number 

 of the large, coarse Russian Wolf (C. I tip us) are 

 used as well in the fur-trade. 



Wolverine ( Gufo litscits), a good fur, from Canada, 

 Alaska, and Siberia, of a rather long, coarse 

 description, with a large more or less deep brown 

 'saddle' mark on its hack in the centre of a paler 

 band, with deep brown again Iwyond. Value, 8s. 6d. 

 to 36s. ; quantity annually imported, about 3000. 



The usual mode of dressing furs is by steeping 

 them in liquor for a short time, after which the 

 pelts are ' tfeshed ' over a sharp knife (to get rid of 

 the excess of fat, &<-.), and suiisequently dried off; 

 they are next trodden by the feet in tubs of warm 



