XX INTRODUCTION. 



Quantities are nevertheless subject to a certain degree 

 to the demand. If the fashion sets in for a certain fur, 

 it is soon known to the trappers, who pursue the animal 

 ^Yith greater vigour, and capture as large a quantity as 

 possible, neglecting those whose skins are in less de- 

 mand, and which in some cases hardly pay the expenses 

 of trapping, collecting, and shipping. The Indians, on 

 the other hand, trap all sorts of fur-bearing animals, and 

 refuse to do business with a collector if he will not 

 buy all the kinds. Having therefore paid too much for 

 the unmarketable skins, and perhaps too little for the 

 more saleable articles, the collector is obliged to re- value 

 his purchases after the settlement of the transactions. 

 In the subjoined list of the Hudson's Bay Company's 

 sales, the quantities quoted are those that are imported 

 towards the end of the previous j^ear, excepting those 

 shipments which are delayed by the ice to the north of 

 Hudson's Bay ; these do not arrive till the year after. 

 The goods from the North-West district were originally 

 sold in the year in which they arrived, l)ut since the 

 September sales have been suspended, they are sold the 

 following year. As they take much longer in the voyage 

 than those from the other districts, they have been 

 quoted for the year in which they arrive. 



