FURETIERE 



FURLOUGH 



which have been brought from the 

 base posts to the depots to await 

 the arrival of the ships. 



Smaller steamers convey the 

 stores to the base posts, which in 

 their turn make use of sailing barges 

 or scows as a means of communica- 

 tion with the ordinary posts. These 

 get in touch with the outposts or 

 flying posts by canoe or sledge, and 

 the flying posts are open at agreed 

 times during the year, to receive 

 visits from the hunters and trap- 

 pers, obtain their catches, and fur- 

 nish them with necessities. 



European agents are located at 

 base posts where are collected 

 provisions for the ordinary posts, 

 as well as their accounts and their 

 collections of skins and these offi- 

 cials have under tbdr orders ran- 

 gers, who are fast dying out, half- 

 breeds, Indians, and Eskimos. 

 Indians obtain skins up to about 

 55 N. latitude the far northern 

 regions are worked by Eskimos. 

 As the skins of the fur-bearing 

 animals are at their best in winter, 

 it is then that the trapper sets out 

 on his journey, running into hun- 

 dreds of miles. Equipped with a 

 sled, sleeping-bag, flour, bacon, 

 pemmican, matches, rifle and am- 

 munition, knife and traps, he 

 leaves the frontiers of civilization, 

 and may not see another human 

 being for months. At each halt he 

 lays his traps a process which 

 may take him days visits and 

 takes them up after a suitable in- 

 terval, skins the animals, packs the 

 skins on his sled and moves on. He 

 plans his journey so that he may 

 arrive at an outpost when his food 

 supply is getting low. The cold in 

 these regions is intense 100 of 

 frost being often registered. 

 Tbe London Market 



London, although its supremacy 

 has been recently challenged by St. 

 Louis, U.S.A., is still the premier 

 fur market of the world, and to 

 London the bulk of the raw skins 

 is consigned. They are lotted and 

 sold at College Hill sale rooms to 

 buyers from all over the world, in 

 Jan., March, and Oct. 



Experts sort and value the skins, 

 which are then fleshed, i.e. cleaned 

 of fat, etc., by round revolving 

 knives. Next they are placed in a 

 bed of grease, oil, yolk of egg, 

 butter or some greasy substance, 

 and subsequently pounded in a 

 treading vat, which causes the 

 grease to enter the pores of the 

 leather. After this, hot sawdust of 

 beech or mahogany is rubbed in, 

 with the resultant effect of drying 

 the grease. -Machines are then 

 utilised to unhair certain skins, i.e. 

 take away the long coarse hairs, 

 leaving only the soft and silky 

 down. . Thereafter such as are 



intended for dyeing are immersed 

 in dyeing vats. Finally skilled 

 craftsmen deal with the skins, 

 which, when manufactured into 

 garments, become furs. 



Of these craftsmen, the first and 

 most important is the assorter, a 

 highly trained specialist. His task 

 is to select such skins as will work 

 up together. Colour, length of hair, 

 quality, texture, grounding, leather, 

 and cost all must be considered, 

 and to get a perfect match he fre- 

 quently rejects hundreds of skins. 

 The selected skins are sent to the 

 cutter, with whom work one or 

 more nailers, men who with knives 

 and nails skilfully work the skins to 

 the pattern accompanying the 

 order. Sewers, using a variety of 

 machines, and subsequently liners 

 and finishers are employed, and de- 

 signing goes on incessantly. Moth, 

 the great enemy, is kept under by 

 beating the furs with a light cane, 

 or by cold storage, which is the 

 more effectual. 



London Fur Sales 



To combat the gradual disap- 

 pearance of many fur-bearing 

 animals, amongst which may be 

 mentioned the sable, seal, chin- 

 chilla, beaver, and silver fox, nu- 

 merotis animal farms have been 

 established with a very fair amount 

 of success. The following quantities 

 of skins were offered at the London 

 fur sales held Oct., 1920. 



Mole 



American Opossum 



Musquash 



Skunk . . 



White Hare 



White Babbit 



Wallaby 



Squirrel . . 



Grey Goat 



Red Fox 



Australian Opossum 



Ermine .. 



Tibet 



Mink 



Beaver . . 



American Marten . . 



Seal 



Russian Sable 

 Silver Fox . . 



Skins 



1,247,393 



864,429 



800,841 



627,824 



433,676 



302,171 



263,356 



229,972 



168,251 



144,050 



129,177 



126,811 



91,632 



23,644 



22,158 



13,983 



3,241 



1,625 



943 



Furetiere, ANTOINE (1619-88). 

 French writer and satirist. Born 

 at Paris, Dec. 28, 1619, he entered 

 the Church, becoming abbe of 

 Chalivoy and prior of Chuines. He 

 wrote a number of satirical poems, 

 a versified set of Gospel parables, a 

 book of fables, 1673, and is chiefly 

 remembered for his humorous 

 story, Le Roman Bourgeois, 1666, 

 written to cast ridicule on the 

 romances of aristocratic gallantry 

 then in vogue. He was elected a 

 member of the French Academy in 

 1662, but was expelled in 1685 for 

 preparing a dictionary, a work 

 which the academy regarded as its 

 exclusive privilege. He died May 

 14, 1688, his dictionary being 

 published in 1690. 



Furfurane OR FTJBANE. Com- 

 pound produced by distilling bar- 

 ium pyromucate with soda-lime. 

 It is also known as tetrol, tetraphe- 

 nol, and tetrane. It is contained 

 among the distillation products of 

 pinewood tar. By the action of 

 acids furfurane is converted into 

 pyrrol -red. 



Furies (Lat. Furiae). In clas- 

 sical mythology, the name under 

 which the Romans knew the 

 Eumenides (q.v.). 



Furka. Mt. road of Switzer- 

 land, in the Valaisian Alps. It runs 

 between the upper Rhone valley 

 and that of the Reussau, leading 

 past the Rhone glacier to Ander- 

 matt, in canton Uri. Its maxi- 

 mum height is 7,991 ft. 



Furlong (O.E. furlang, furrow- 

 long). British measure of length, 

 one-eighth of a mile, or 220 yds. 

 The name is derived from the old 

 English furrow length. A square, 

 each side of which was a furrow 

 220 yds. long, contained 10 acres. 

 See Acre. 



Furlo Pass (anc. Intercisa or 

 Petra Pertusa). Tunnel through the 

 Apennines in Perugia. It is on the 

 road from Rome to Ariminum, the 

 ancient Via Flaminia. It is about 

 40 yds. long, 14 ft. high, and 17 ft. 

 wide, and, according to an inscrip- 

 tion cut in the rock, was made by 

 the orders of the emperor Vespasian 

 in A.D. 77. 



Furlough (Dutch ver lof, for 

 leave, or oorlof, permission, sanc- 

 tion). Army term designating the 

 absence from duty of N.C.O.'s and 

 men, for periods in excess of six 

 days, with the permission of the 

 commanding officer. The term was 

 also formerly applied to officers' 

 leave, but now only in the Indian 

 army, and it is occasionally em- 

 ployed in the same sense in civilian 

 and official life. 



Furlough is granted at the dis- 

 cretion of the commanding officer, 

 and in normal times it is usual for 

 approximately a quarter of the 

 strength of regiments to be on fur- 

 lough on full pay from Oct. 1 to 

 Feb. 1, each man usually being 

 granted a month at a time, but 

 possibly longer if he resides a long 

 distance from the station. A 

 soldier is usually granted two 

 months' furlough prior to discharge, 

 so that he may secure employment 

 while still in receipt of army pay. 

 A soldier on furlough is not per- 

 mitted to leave the United King- 

 dom, and his pass may be endorsed 

 with the permission to wear civilian 

 clothes. During the Great War an 

 innovation was made in active 

 service conditions by granting 

 furlough to men in the line, as 

 regiilarly as the exigencies of the 

 campaign permitted. 



IX 4 



