486 



FUR-TRADE. 



expeditions, amounted to about seven hundred 

 persons. This great body of people emburked 

 every spring, in different divisions, in slight canoes 

 of bark, upon rivers newly freed from the ice, 

 and coursed along them, encountering at every 

 step difficulties and dangers, from rocks, rapids, 

 and other natural obstacles. The slender boats 

 were always heavily laden with provisions for the 

 party, and goods of various kinds, particularly arms 

 and clothing, to exchange for the furs. On reach- 

 ing Lake Superior, where the company had their 

 chief winter stations, the expedition met parties 

 who had spent the winter there, engaged in collect- 

 ing the furs, and two months were spent in the 

 settlement of debts and other affairs. The furs 

 were then packed in August, and embarked in a 

 portion of the canoes for Montreal: while the re- 

 mainder proceeded, with the articles necessary for 

 the traffic, to different posts in the Indian country, 

 there to remain in log-huts for the winter, and col- 

 lect a fresh stock of skins. Sir Alexander Mac- 

 kenzie spent many years of his life in this employ- 

 ment, and made those discoveries respecting the 

 geography of the regions to the N.W. of the lakes, 

 which revived the prospect of a north-west passage. 

 The annual quantity of skins collected by the 

 North-West Fur Company, during Sir Alexander's 

 connection with it, is stated by him as follows : 

 Skins of the beaver, 106,000; the bear, 2100; the 

 fox, 5500 ; the otter, 4600 ; the musgreash, 17,000; 

 the marten, 32,000; the mink, 1800; the lynx, 

 6000 ; the wolverine, 600 ; the fisher, 1650 ; the 

 racoon, 100; the wolf, 3800; the elk, 700; the 

 deer, 1950. All these skins are brought to Bri- 

 tain, before being sent, either in a dressed or un- 

 dressed condition, to the continental market. The 

 purposes to which the different kinds of skins are 

 put are exceedingly various, only a few of them 

 being actually used as furs in clothing. Beaver- 

 skins, for example, are in this country devoted now 

 a-days almost entirely to the manufacture of hats. 

 One portion, besides, of an animal's fur, is applied 

 to purposes which the remainder is inapplicable to, 

 and hence, in order to distinguish these different 

 parts of the same animal's skin, new names are 

 often bestowed on them. Thus the furs best 

 known and most valued in this country, are er- 

 mine, lynx, sable, fitch, American squirrel, chin- 

 chella, and silver bear, some of which are derived 

 from animals mentioned in Sir Alexander Mac- 

 kenzie's list, while others are from animals which 

 do not appear to have been then in use in the 

 trade. Of all these furs, ermine is the finest, and 

 one of the most expensive. A skin, purely white 

 in the body, and black at the end of the tail, is 

 considered as of the best quality. Many attempts, 

 of course, are made to imitate ermine, by dying in- 

 ferior skins. Fitch, sable, and lynx, are the most 

 durable of furs, and bear a high value. The squir- 

 rel and chinchella furs are exceedingly elegant, but 

 do not last very long. They are of a grayish tint. 

 Fine bear-skins are of great value in the fur trade, 

 and are manufactured into articles of much beauty 

 as well as durability. It ought to be mentioned, 

 that the fur companies trade extensively in buffalo- 

 skins, though no furs are derived from any animal 

 cf that class. An immense number of animals of 

 other kinds are also frequently killed in the arctic 

 regions, the bodies of which serve as food to the 

 hunting parties. A party of eighty men killed and 

 consumed, in one winter, 90,000 white partridges, 

 and 25,000 hares. The waters of Hudson's Bay 



are stocked with the grampus, seal, narwal, sea- 

 horse, and other creatures, of which many hundreds 

 are killed annually, and their skins, particularly 

 those of the seal tribe, added to the general store. 

 The importations of fur-skins into England in 

 1835 were : 



Bear, 

 Heaver, 



Britiib 



North American 



ColoniH. 



4,829 



85,933 



12 



71,068 

 28,897 



United 

 KlalM. 



10,184 



2,316 



40 



Mink, 



Musquash, 1,147,728 



Nutria, 4 



Otter, 17.989 



Seal, 3'.'-',186 



. 

 23,232 



143 



2,081 



Total from 

 all Uuntria. 



16,041 



116,601 

 1,117,669 



I s,:7 1 



The numbers re-exported in the same year of 

 those species of which the Custom-house Returns 

 have been given, were : 



Countries to which 

 exported. 

 Russia, 

 Prussia, 

 Germany, 

 Holland,' 

 Belgium, 

 France, 

 Italy, 

 Turkey, 

 China, 

 U. S. of 

 America, 



Bear. 

 331 



8,753 

 207 



1,663 

 229 



Musquash. Otter. 



5,106 

 861 



188 

 11,222 



281 



813 



6.507 

 50,425 



164,558 



650 



13,157 



205 



520 

 9,912 



11,414 17,961 221,490 24,444 



In 1836 the number of undressed furs entered 

 for home consumption was : Bear, 2322 ; beaver, 

 87,473; cat and lynx, 58,937; coney, 665,991; 

 ermine, 284,488; fitch, 122,741; fox, 18,977; 

 marten, 197,804; mink, 62,467; musquash, 

 784,379; nutria, 1.32S.017; otter, 952; racoon, 

 1525 ; and squirrel, 2,236,725. 



An idea is entertained by some persons that the 

 races of wild animals whose skins are an article of 

 commerce will some day be extinct, owing to the 

 rivalry of traders; and it may follow that furs will 

 be so scarce as to be handed down from one gener- 

 ation to another by will, as was the case a few 

 centuries ago. This however is an anticipation 

 not likely to be realized. The textile materials of 

 dress, especially wool, are much superior in their 

 quality, and, when in a manufactured state, form a 

 better protection from the weather than at any 

 previous period ; and we are consequently past the 

 age of wearing skins, which, in the history of cos- 

 tume, precedes the improvement of manufactured 

 fabrics. But if the extermination of wild animals 

 should nearly ensue, the supply of furs would not 

 on that account cease, as a sufficient number of 

 animals would be domesticated solely for the sake 

 of their skins. This is already done to some 

 extent in the north of Europe. Mr Laing, in his 

 interesting " Notes on Norway," says "The fur 

 orskin used for their winter pelisses by the "Fjelde" 

 people is really handsomer, although much cheaper, 

 than that of the wolf or bear. It belongs to a par- 

 ticular kind of dog, with a remarkably fine, soft, 

 and glossy fur. These dogs are bred for the sake 

 of their skins ; and it appears to me that many of 

 the best of the dark brown or black muffs and tip- 

 pets of our English ladies are merely well-selected 

 skins of these Fjelde dogs. A pelisse of such fur 

 costs about 3 9s., while that of wolf-skin costs 

 Torn 7 10s. to 9 10s." J. H Pelley, Esq., 

 Sovernor of the Hudson's Bay Company, in his 

 evidence before a committee of the House of Com- 

 mons, March, 1837, says that the Company now 

 maintain beaver preserves in their territories. 



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