CHAPTER VI. 



North Americ/>.l the Former Habitat of the Istdian and the Beaver— 

 The Hud son River, the St. I^awrence River and Hudson's 

 Strait, t;he Three Avenues of Assaui,t— The Coasts op the 

 Pacific and the Arctic Discovered — Graduai, Retreat of the 

 BEAVEn<. TO THE Upper Tributaries— His Last Home, the Quiet 

 PootmS ai,ong the Heights of Land. 



Tb .e distribution of the beaver in North America was greater than 

 that o/ any other animal, and might be considered as co-extensive 

 vsrith tht.it of the Indian. The southern boundaries were the Gulf of 

 Mexico a.nd the Rio Grande, while from the Atlantic to the Pacific 

 it ranged \ northwards to the region of perpetual snow. Of course 

 within this vast territory there were places, such as the desert and 

 prairie counfry, where the creature was but little known, while also 

 there were the^ great water districts of the Hudson's Bay and the 

 Saskatchewan ' River, the St. I,awrence River and the Mississippi 

 where the beaV^ers overran the country. The adventurers who 

 braved the Atlantic in early times, did so not to hunt or traffic, but 

 to gather gold and other concrete riches, and the presence of fur 

 bearing animals more or less plentifully, was a matter of small con- 

 cern to them. 



a 



Coincident with the period of the Renaissance in Europe, 

 however, commerce revived, and new life quickened enterprises of 

 many kinds, among which was the project to discover a short route 

 to Carthay. The market was thus ready for fresh fields of supply 

 and companies were soon organized to collect the rich peltries offered 

 by the newly discovered world. England entered on the north b}' 

 Hudson's Strait and planted her colonies over the North-West ; 

 France colonized the St. Eawrence, while the Dutch made the Hud- 

 son River their approach to the interior. The Indian had been the 



