BEAVER AND CANADIAN HISTORY 189 



Huron, it was said that " a hundred canoes used to 

 come to trade, all laden with beaver skins and each 

 year we had two or three hundred thousand livres 

 worth. That was a fine revenue with which to 

 satisfy all the people and defray the heavy expenses 

 of the country," and this in spite of the fact that 

 the Iroquois did all they could to prevent the trade 

 by incessant attacks on all who either trapped or 

 carried the skins. In the above-mentioned year 

 there is the following statement : " The country is 

 not stripped of beaver ; they form its gold mines 

 and its wealth, which have only to be drawn upon 

 in the lakes and streams, where the supply is great 

 in proportion to the smallness of the draught upon 

 it during these latter years due to the fear of being 

 dispersed or captured by the Iroquois." During 

 the earlier years, the whites contented themselves 

 with trading for skins, but gradually the desire for 

 greater profits led them to indulge in trapping, 

 and in 1656 I find almost the first notice of this in 

 the following : " As nothing happened all winter 

 long to mar our joy and as the atmosphere of peace 

 had spread throughout the country especially in 

 Montreal, the great number of beaver inhabiting 

 the streams and neighbouring rivers attracted our 

 Frenchmen thither as spring opened and the snow 

 and ice melted. On all sides they hunted and 

 waged war against these animals in good earnest, 

 with pleasure and profit alike. A young surgeon 

 in pursuit of his prey laying his snares for the 



