114 CASTOROI.OGIA. 



ever before, every corner of the continent being ransacked for 

 beavers ; the Hudson's Bay Company on the north, the Pacific Fur 

 Company on the south, and the North West Company by way of 

 the St. lyawrence, or the central route. Of course the boundaries of 

 these corporations were quite undefined, and in fact there seems to 

 have been most honor in the breach of mutual respect, for the ac- 

 counts of the attempted subterfuges to gain advantage, reflect dis- 

 credit on corporations of such wealth and magnitude. So fiercely 

 did competition run, that bloodshed at last followed and left a ruined 

 trade, as the natural consequence of successive efforts to outdo pre- 

 vious methods of sharp practice, wherefore, defeated by its own ob- 

 jects, and to save further difficulties which threatened, an amalgam- 

 ation of the two northerly bodies was effected in 1821, from which 

 date a new era in the fur trade began. 



Just at this time, it will be remembered, the Nutria fur was in- 

 troduced to relieve the excessive demand for beavers, and a few 

 years later, when silk was adapted to hat making in imitation of the 

 " old beaver," we may say the question of the beaver extermination 

 was indefinitely postponed. Of course the hunt was not completely 

 abandoned, only such quarters were neglected as required too great 

 an outlay of energy for the few beaver skins obtainable, and in a few 

 years in some of these districts the animals became very plentiful 

 again. 



The absorption of the North West Company also lengthened the 

 history of the Hudson's Baj' Company, as far as regards its fur in- 

 dustries, and the extraordinary magnitude of their operation has 

 certainly been without parallel in our day. For nearly fifty years 

 the gathering of the annual fur crop, and its subsequent disposal at 

 auction, in I<ondon, has been a regular chapter in the growing his- 

 tory of the Fmpire. But in 1869, the Dominion of Canada was com- 

 pelled to take over the reins of power from the Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany, giving a monetary consideration and recognizing certain 

 very considerable land possessions, which latterly have become of 

 the first importance to the Company, and placed the beaver trade 

 forever among the past glories of our history. 



