86 CASTOROLOGIA. 



All these purposes required the leather alone with the hair re- 

 moved, but there were also ways of tanning the skin with the hair 

 on, the result being an article which for general utility has not been 

 surpassed in all time. The quantities of " Coat- Beaver " and of 

 " Mitten-Beaver," gathered and exported to Europe, show how much 

 the article was used in this way b}" the Indians until the introduction 

 of the blanket from Europe, which has remained in fashion among 

 them to this day, while it is doubtful if a beaver coat or " foggey " of 

 the old style, has ever been seen by the present generation. It 

 consisted of several skins, dressed softl}', and then sewn together, 

 making virtually a beaver blanket, and in many cases the leather 

 side of this wrap was gorgeousl}^ decorated with designs painted or 

 colored with native dyes, or in the case of the elders of the tribes, 

 the decoration consisted of embroideries in porcupine quills or even 

 wampum beads. 



The Indians made an ointment from the fat of the beaver which 

 was supposed to have many curative and medicinal properties, not 

 the least among which was its power to prevent frost bites, by being 

 applied to the exposed parts of the body, which thus anointed would 

 not be affected by the most extreme cold. This quality alone 

 would have made the beaver of great economic value. 



Nothing, however, has made the animal so prominently import- 

 ant as its castoreum, which, through the entire history of the Indians, 

 has been highly valued, for in addition to its medicinal value it was 

 also frequently used as a luxury. It is an historical fact that the 

 North American Indian was a great devotee of the pipe, and his 

 mystic conception of its high office in social affairs, is clearly de- 

 monstrated by the great importance attached to the ceremony of 

 smoking at council meetings the stone pipe or calumet — the " Pipe 

 of Peace." Tobacco was not always to be obtained, and at times 

 recourse w^as made to various other vegetable substitutes, thus the 

 inner bark of trees was much used in the North West, and was 

 called " killikinic," while each locality would furnish its variety 

 sometimes changing with the seasons. In such cases castoreum 

 was used to add flavor to the compound, and it was supposed that it 



