314 On the Fur Trade, and Fur-hearing Animals. 



phrates, and Tigris, between the Euxine and Caspian seas ; and 

 large quantities of small furs came through the Greek merchants of 

 the Crimea, or by the commerce of Cappadocia. 



Of these, there were probably many varieties. The writers 

 of that age term them, " Pontic, Babylonian, and Armenian mice." 

 The only kind which can now be identified is the Ermine, which 

 takes its names from Armenia, the place where it was then taken, 

 and is thence called Armenian or Ermine.* 



It is obvious that the fashion, and the high value placed upon furs, 

 in the milder climates of Europe and Asia, were derived from the 

 savages of the northern regions, who inundated the plains and vallies 

 of the south ; and when no longer needing their customary de- 

 fences against the severity of seasons, still retained their attachment 

 to their primitive customs so far, as to ornament the lighter products 

 of the loom with the richest and most beautiful, while they dis- 

 carded the shaggy and coarser kinds of fur. 



Charlemagne wore a cloak of otter skins, and " a surcoat with 

 sleeves furred with vair and fox." Octher, a Norwegian chief, states, 

 that " the tribute paid to the Swedes, by the Fynnes, was skins of 

 Marternes, reindeers, and bears." The Anglo Saxons cherished an 

 attachment to furs in common with the other nations of German and 

 Scandinavian origin ; but they were confined to the products of their 

 own country, except as they could by illicit traffic, obtain some of 

 the rarer kinds from the northern, and other piratical traders. 



In the middle ages the value of furs was at its zenith, and when 

 they became of the highest fashion in the European courts, the ex- 

 pense, of procuring the finest and richest,' required a regal revenue. 

 The precious quality of the ermine, the small size of the animal, and 

 the supply required for the princes and nobles of Europe, rendered 

 its cost enormous. Stephen de la Fontaine, master of the robes to 

 Louis IX of France, charges " for three pieces and a half of velvet to 

 make a surcoat, a dress mantle, and a hat lined with ermines, for the 

 king against the feast of the star. For the said surcoat, a fur lining 

 of three hundred and forty six ermines. For the sleeves and wrist- 

 bands sixty. For the frock three hundred and thirty six ', in all, seven 

 hundred and forty six ermines for a single dress. "f 



" Tranactions Soc. Arts, Com &c. Aikin on furs, 

 i Aikin, Trass. &c. &c. 



