BEAVER AND CANADIAN HISTORY 201 



Even with the addition thereto of the ' opposition ' 

 trade, in the very same locaUty, it is doubtful if the 

 aggregate of both would greatly exceed one-half 

 of this average. It is generally assumed that 

 ' opposition ' or competition is the * life of trade ' 

 in all branches of business ; but in the opinion of 

 many competent judges, the fur trade, from its very 

 nature and the scope of its operations, is, or should 

 be, one of the few essential exceptions to the rule. 

 It is a matter of fact that the advent and continued 

 presence of 'free traders ' at a Company's inland 

 post has always had a more or less stimulating 

 effect on the natives by inducing them to exert 

 themselves to a larger degree than usual in the 

 hunting of beaver and all other fur-bearing animals, 

 but although at first and for some time all con- 

 cerned appear to benefit by increased returns, yet 

 the inevitable accompaniment of reckless and 

 indiscriminate slaughter, sooner or later, adversely 

 manifests itself. This has hitherto been the in- 

 variable experience at every assailed post or district 

 in North America. 



" We all know how the bison or buffalo of the 

 prairies of Canada and the United States has 

 practically disappeared, although half a century ago 

 it was reckoned by millions. The beaver has been 

 Canada's staple fur for centuries, and but for the 

 Hudson's Bay Company and its officers it would 

 long ago have ceased to exist as a commercial asset. 

 Unless further action speedily intervenes in the 



