BEAVER AND CANADIAN HISTORY 193 
of the Indian on whose welfare the Company so 
largely depended. Notwithstanding what has been 
said to the contrary the use of “fire-water ” was 
certainly discountenanced. This in itself was a 
potent cause of peace. There is no doubt that 
many serious wars were averted by the diplomatic 
handling of what were often extremely difficult 
situations. (This is not a book on Canada, so 
that I scarcely feel justified in going too much 
into historical questions, but if the reader is 
interested in the subject he will find great pleasure 
in going through the accounts of the Hudson Bay 
Company, “The Relations of the Jesuits in 
Canada,” and other historic works relating to the 
subject.) 
As already stated the coin of the country was 
the beaver-skin ; it was the unit of exchange or 
barter. Ifa man wanted a blanket or a knife or 
any article he was asked so many “beaver,” and 
though he did not always pay in actual skins they 
were the basis of all smaller transactions. Unfor- 
tunately it is impossible to estimate the number 
of beaver which were killed for use and sale. In 
1854 no less than 509,000 skins were sold in 
London and Edinburgh, while Thompson Seton 
gives the average annual total “brought out by 
the American Fur Company and the Hudson’s 
Bay Company for the period between 1860 and 
1870, when the fur trade was at its height, as, in 
round numbers, 150,000,” and he adds: “ But the 
R.B. oO 
