CASTOROLOGIA. II7 



From an indispensable source of food and clothing, we have seen 

 the beaver advance in importance till nations waged wars for the 

 monopoly of its rich traffic, and now it has become so insignificant a 

 factor in trade that there is scarcely a single field left, in which it 

 does not find a successful competitor. Its value as food is never 

 considered, now that the means of carriage have so annihilated dis- 

 stance, that the luxuries of the most favored nations are obtainable 

 in cities which have sprung up in wilderness and prairie, while from 

 these centres radiate every modern means of conveyance. Where 

 a dozen years ago the rickety, creaking Saskatchewan cart followed 

 wearily the slow footed ox, to-day the trains rush with mimic flashes 

 of the lightning which urges their career. Beaver leather, like 

 beaver wool, has lost its recognition among the requirements of pro- 

 gressive manufactures, and, as the beavers disappeared before ap- 

 proaching civilization, their places have been more than supplanted 

 by the domestic cow and the sheep, which furnish so completely our 

 wants of food and clothing. 



One other aspect alone remains to consider, that of the uses 

 of the beaver skin to the furrier. This field was opened about 

 the beginning of the century, when nutria and silk filled the 

 demand, which for generations had relied almost solely on the 

 beaver, and had threatened the extermination of this valuable 

 animal. In texture the fur of the beaver is very appropriate for all 

 smaller articles of apparel such as caps, collars, victorines, cufis, 

 muffs and gauntlets, and fashion has even gone the length of mak- 

 ing it into entire garments for both ladies' and gentlemen's wear, but 

 for these latter the weight may be considered an objectionable fea- 

 ture. For all these purposes the leather is dressed or tanned — a 

 simple process for reducing the weight of the skin and extracting 

 the fat and grease — and then the long coarse hairs are usually 

 plucked out by hand, or sweated and pulled by a heavy knife on a 

 beam. When dressed only, the skin is said to be "natural," it is 

 usually of a brownish color, and the appearance is rather rough and 

 meets with limited favor ; but when the coarse top hairs have been 

 removed it is known as " plucked beaver," and in this state is very 

 familiar in the trade. The appearance is generally a soft woolly fur 



