FURT FUR TRADE. 



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m/tliologists reckon three of them, and call them 

 Aleclo, Megeera and Tisiphone. .dSschylus, in the 

 celebrated tragedy of the Eumenides, introduced 

 fifty furies, and with them Fear and Horror, upon 

 the stage. These terrible beings were described as 

 clothed in black robes, with serpents instead of hair, 

 with fingers like claws, an outstretched tongue, eyes 

 dripping with gore. They were the suckers of 

 blood, from whom, when satiated, the blood streamed 

 down their necks, and from whom, when enraged, 

 oozed a venom, that spread like a leprosy-spot, 

 wherever it fell, and made the ground barren. They 

 were regarded with great dread, the Athenians hardly 

 daring to speak their names, and calling them only 

 the venerable goddesses. With the progress of good 

 taste and information among the Greeks, the mytho- 

 logy of these frightful fiends underwent several 

 changes. The sculptors, proceeding on the idea of 

 their being hunters of men, represented them as 

 beautiful hunting nymphs, whose character was indi- 

 cated only by the sternness of their expression, by the 

 torch, dagger, and other similar emblems. The en- 

 lightened philosophers first, and afterwards the com- 

 mon people, saw in them only personifications of the 

 torments of a bad conscience. Then it was, that 

 they received the name of Eumenides, i. e. the bene- 

 volent. A small but excellent treatise on this sub- 

 ject, has been written by Bottiger, entitled Die 

 Furienmaske im Trauerspiel und auf Bildwerken der 

 alien Griechen (Weimar, 1801). 



FURT ; a German ending of geographical names, 

 meaning a ford in rivers ; as, Frankfurt (Frankfort), 

 Klagenfurt. 



FURTH; a manufacturing town in Bavaria, in 

 the circle of the Rezat, at the conflux of the Rednitz 

 and Pegnitz ; four miles W. of Nuremberg ; popula- 

 tion, 16,700 ; 7000 Jews. It contains two churches, 

 four synagogues, and a Jewish university, with 200 

 students. The inhabitants are mostly employed in 

 manufactures, as glass of all kinds, watches, saddles, 

 stockings, goldbeating, joinery, &c. 



FUR TRADE. The Indian or fur trade com- 

 menced early in the seventeenth century, and was 

 carried on by the early French emigrants. Quebec 

 and Montreal were, at first, trading posts. The 

 trade was then, as now, a barter of guns, cloth, am- 

 munition, &c., for the beaver and other furs collected 

 by the natives, and was effected by the intervention 

 of the voyageurs, engages, or coureurs des bois. 

 These men carried burdens of merchandise on their 

 backs to the Indian camips, and exchanged their 

 wares for peltries, with which they returned in the 

 same manner. Shortly after the discovery of the 

 Mississippi, permanent houses, and, in many places, 

 stockade forts, were built, and men of capital 

 engaged in the trade. Detroit, Mackinac, and 

 Green Bay were settled in this manner. The man- 

 ner of the fur trade has undergone no material 

 alteration since. Traders now, at least with the 

 more remote tribes, enter the Indian country with 

 boats laden with goods, and manned with Canadian 

 boatmen, who perform the same service above attri- 

 buted to their ancestors. The engages are a hardy, 

 patient, and laborious race, habitually making exer- 

 tions of which no other people are, perhaps, capable, 

 and enduring all hardships and privations for small 

 pay- 

 In 1670, shortly after the restoration of Charles 

 II. he granted to prince Rupert and others, a char- 

 ter, empowering them to trade, exclusively, with the 

 aborigines on and about Hudson's bay. A company, 

 then and after called the Hudson's bay company, was 

 formed in consequence. The trade was then more 

 lucrative than at present. In the winter of 1783 4, 

 another company was formed at Montreal, called the 



North west fur company, which disputed the right of 

 the Hudson's bay, and actively opposed it. The 

 earl of Selkirk was, at that time, at the head of the 

 Hudson's bay, and conceived the plan of planting a 

 colony on the Red river of lake Winnepeg, Of this 

 colony, the North-west company was suspicious. In 

 consequence of this, and the evil feelings naturally 

 growing out of a contrariety of interest, a war en- 

 sued between the servants of the parties, and a loose 

 was given to outrage and barbarity. Wearied, at 

 last, the companies united, and are now known by 

 the name of the Hudson's bay fur company. The 

 colony established by lord Selkirk soon broke up, 

 the settlers removing to the United States. 



Of all who have traded with the aborigines, the 

 French were the most popular and successful. 

 They did, and do conform to the manners and 

 feelings of the Indians, better than the English and 

 Americans ever could. Most of the persons now 

 engaged in the fur trade, in the region north of the 

 Missouri, are French ; and they are much esteemed 

 by the natives, with whom they frequently inter- 

 marry. The male offspring of these alliances are 

 commonly employed as interpreters, engages, &c. 

 They are handsome, athletic men. Mixing the 

 blood seems to improve the races. 



The Indian trade on the great lakes and the Up- 

 per Mississippi with its branches, has long been in 

 possession of the North American fur company, the 

 principal directors of which are in the city of New 

 York. In the year 1822, a new company, entitled 

 the Columbian fur company, was oiganized, to trade 

 on the St Peter's and Mississippi. It was projected 

 by three individuals, who had been thrown out of 

 employ by the union of the Hudson's bay and North- 

 west, as before mentioned. Its operations soon 

 extended to the Missouri, whither its members 

 went from the sources of the St Peter's, with carts 

 and wagons, drawn by dogs. When it had, after 

 three years' opposition, obtained a secure footing 

 in the country, it joined with the North American. 

 There was another company on the Missouri at the 

 same time. Furs were also obtained from the Upper 

 Missouri and the Rocky mountains, as follows : 

 Large bodies of men (under the pretence of trading 

 with Indians, to avoid the provisions of the law) 

 were sent from St Louis, provided with traps, guns, 

 and all things necessary to hunters and trappers. 

 They travelled in bodies of from 50 to 200, by way 

 of security against the attacks of the savages, till 

 they arrived at the place of their destination, when 

 they separated, and pursued the fur-clad animals, 

 singly, or in small parties. When their object was 

 effected, they assembled with their peltry, and de- 

 scended the Missouri. They did not always 

 invade the privileges of the natives with impunity, 

 but sometimes suffered severely in life and property. 

 This system still continues, and its operatives form 

 a distinct class in the state of Missouri. 



The articles used in the Indian trade are chiefly 

 these : coarse blue and red cloth and fine scarlet, 

 guns, knives, blankets, traps, coarse cottons, powder 

 and ball, hoes, hatchets, beads, vermilion, ribbons, 

 kettles, &c. We know no Indians that buy horse 

 furniture, but the Saques and Foxes. The furs given 

 in return are those of the beaver (but this is scarce 

 on tliis side the Rocky mountains), otter, musk-rat, 

 marten, bear, deer, lynx, and buffalo. Racoons are 

 now of little value. The fur-clad animals, with the 

 exception of the musk-rat, are now almost extermi- 

 nated on the Mississippi and the great lakes, owing 

 entirely to the fur trade. The skins of animals 

 killed in summer are good for nothing ; and the 

 farther north Uie furs are taken, the better is their 

 quality. 



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