BEAVER AND CANADIAN HISTORY 197 



mentioned year's sale was immediately followed by 

 a decline of 24,750 pelts. The balance of the series 

 from 1866 to 1877 varies between the minimum, 

 115,646 in 1877, and the maximum, 172,042 in 

 1867, certainly the highest and best since 1821, and 

 probably one of, if not the most productive in the 

 history of the Hudson's Bay Company. An old 

 writer of repute, however, writes that 175,000 

 beaver skins were collected by the 'ancient con- 

 cern ' in one year about the middle of the eighteenth 

 century. It is possible that this large number may 

 have comprised the country trade of two seasons. 

 European wars were rather frequent and somewhat 

 protracted in those days, while it is on record that 

 one or two of the Company's ships failed in making 

 the annual round voyage between London and 

 Hudson Bay. I think it is a matter of regret that 

 neither of the two recent historians of the Hudson's 

 Bay Company, while throwing much light on the 

 earlier and some of their later trade operations, 

 have not also given us some definite statements of 

 their yearly fur shipments and sales, which would 

 have been generally appreciated. Mr. Beckles 

 Willson has, however, given an interesting account 

 of the Company's first London public sale, which 

 took place on January 24, 1672. On this occasion 

 the 3,000 weight of beaver were put up in thirty 

 lots, and fetched from 36 to 55 shillings (a pound 

 probably). The other furs and peltries, bear, 

 marten, and otter, &c., were reserved for a separate 



