rations and petty adventurers fought for monopolies few were able 

 to control. 



The history of the beaver in Great Britain, has been concisely 

 recorded by J. E. Harting ; while an extensive volume, the work 

 of Morgan and Ely, treats of the beaver in the United States. 

 Conspicuous for original contributions on the Canadian beaver, 

 we recognize Cartwright, in Eabrador ; Hardy, in New Bruns- 

 wick ; Venner, in Quebec ; Wilson, in Ontario ; and Green, in the 

 Far West ; but all these are eclipsed by Samuel Hearne, the 

 Hudson's Bay explorer and writer, whose observations will be 

 worth, for all time, verbatim copy. Dr. Richardson's monumental 

 tome, though written half a century later, scarcely extends in the 

 least our knowledge of this subject. 



To trace the tangled threads of the earlier chronicles, and to 

 produce a worthy fabric, requires for every strand a mind peculiar 

 to the theme — the patience and keen observance of the Antiquary 

 — the genius of the Historian — the broad knowledge of the Biologist 

 — all these at least, and with these, the general love for the study 

 of Nature. This last has been my slender equipment, but I have 

 easily enlisted sympathetic help from members of the Anti- 

 quarian Societ}^ the Society for Historical Studies, and the Natural 

 History Society of Montreal. To the Hon. Edward Murphy and 

 to Mr. P. S. Murphy I am indebted for antiquarian notes ; for 

 the elucidation of many historical problems my thanks are due 

 to Mr. Henry Mott and Mr. Gerald E. Hart ; while for many 

 kind and valuable services I am deeply grateful to Sir J. Wm. 

 Dawson. Among my correspondents man}^ have evinced a prac- 

 tical interest, and I am proud to acknowledge many items from 

 the fluent pen of Mr. J. M. EeMoine. During my sojourns abroad 

 I received most friendly assistance, and acknowledge my obliga- 

 tions to Mr. T. F. Moore, Derby Museum, I^iverpool ; Mr. Chas. 

 N. Read, Brit. Mus. (Ethnography) ; Mr. Oldfield Thomas and Mr. 

 A. Smith Woodward, Brit. Mus. (Natural History) ; Mr. A. D. 

 Bartlett, Regents Park Gardens ; and Mr. P. A. Sclater, Sec'y. Zool. 

 Society, Eondon ; who made available to me the privileges of those 



