WONDERS OF A NEW LAND 217 



set for him in the coming winter that he will 

 need to keep a wary eye upon. In order to be 

 out of their dangerous clutches he will have 

 to use his wonderful scent as well as his keen 

 eyesight. The Chief noted his route of travel, 

 and he will surely have a line of traps strung 

 along his pathway. To catch such a fine spec- 

 imen of the Yukon black fox is like finding a 

 gold mine, with all the rich gold in sight. 



What an influence the vagaries of fashion 

 have upon the animal world! One year mink 

 is in demand and the prices soar, and the mink 

 is then searched for and trapped all through 

 British Columbia and the Yukon, Siberia and 

 Alaska. The next year marten comes into 

 vogue with a similar result. Then the lynx, 

 the seal, the ermine, the wolverine, the beaver, 

 the homely skunk, and even the muskrat each 

 in his turn is in demand. Now it is the black 

 fox, the silver fox, the blue fox, the red fox, 

 and the grey fox. Anything as long as it is 

 a fox, is wanted. 



A few years back muskrats were worth only 

 from fifteen to twenty cents a skin. They then 

 came into fashion, and the price went up. In 

 the city of London, Ontario, I heard of a man 

 who had bought five thousand of these rather 

 common little hides and had paid $1.05 a skin 



