186 ORDER V. 



Islands, and the greater part of North America. It 

 is trapped by means of bait placed beneath stones, 

 which drop and crush the animal when attempting 

 to feed ; shot with blunt arrows, or in other ways, 

 and is in both hemispheres an article of value in 

 commerce, and important for adorning the dresses 

 of princes, judges, Moslem dignitaries, and chiefs 

 of savages. A century ago the skins were already 

 valued at three pounds sterling per hundred on the 

 spot, in Russia. In Scotland, Norway, Sweden, and 

 Western Russia, the animals are now rare, or much 

 diminished ; but from Northern Asia 30,000 skins 

 have been sent in one season, exclusive of what 

 may have been forwarded to Persia and China ; and 

 from North America, the Hudson's Bay and the 

 United States fur companies, annually collect at 

 least as many, without reckoning the immense con- 

 sumption of this peltry by the native Indians, whose 

 chiefs, braves, and even women, adorn themselves 

 profusely with slips of the skin which contain the 

 back and tail, refusing the rest, so that we have 

 reckoned above 200 applied to one single dress. 

 Finally, a considerable traffic in furs, including Er- 

 mine skins, is carried on, from the west coast of 

 America, with Japan and China, attesting, notwith- 

 standing the immense numbers of the animal, the 

 importance and value of a commercial article, which 

 the luxury of the ancients did not comprehend, and 

 Western Europe first learned from the Goths. 



In severe winters, these animals have been observed 

 to migrate southward in considerable numbers. 



