anb 



offices are plain Beaver, Beaver Pond, Beaver 

 Meadow, or some other combination that pro- 

 claims the former prevalence of this widely dis- 

 tributed builder. The beaver is the national 

 emblematic animal of Canada, and there, too, 

 numerous post-offices, lakes, and streams are 

 named for the beaver. 



Beaver skins lured the hunter and trapper over 

 all American wilds. These skins were one of the 

 earliest mediums of exchange among the settlers 

 of North America. For two hundred years they 

 were one of the most important exports, and for 

 a longer time they were also the chief commodity 

 of trade on the frontier. A beaver skin was not 

 only the standard by which other skins were 

 measured in value, but also the standard of value 

 by which guns, sugar, cattle, hatchets, and cloth- 

 ing were measured. Though freely used by the 

 early settlers for clothing, they were especially 

 valuable as raw material for the manufacture of 

 hats, and for this purpose were largely exported. 



From this animal were prepared many reme- 

 dies which in former times were believed to have 

 high medicinal value. Castoreum was the most 



43 



