BEAVER AND CANADIAN HISTORY 201 
Even with the addition thereto of the ‘ opposition’ 
trade, in the very same locality, it is doubtful if the 
aggregate of both would greatly exceed one-half 
of this average. It is generally assumed that 
‘opposition’ or competition is the ‘life of trade’ 
in all branches of business; but in the opinion of 
many competent judges, the fur trade, from its very 
nature and the scope of its operations, is, or should 
be, one of the few essential exceptions to the rule. 
It is a matter of fact that the advent and continued 
presence of ‘free traders’ at a Company’s inland 
post has always had a more or less stimulating 
effect on the natives by inducing them to exert 
themselves to a larger degree than usual in the 
hunting of beaver and all other fur-bearing animals, 
but although at first and for some time all con- 
cerned appear to benefit by increased returns, yet 
the inevitable accompaniment of reckless and 
indiscriminate slaughter, sooner or later, adversely 
manifests itself. This has hitherto been the in- 
variable experience at every assailed post or district 
in North America. 
“ We all know how the bison or buffalo of the 
prairies of Canada and the United States has 
practically disappeared, although half a century ago 
it was reckoned by millions. The beaver has been 
Canada’s staple fur for centuries, and but for the 
Hudson’s Bay Company and its officers it would 
long ago have ceased to exist as a commercial asset. 
Unless further action speedily intervenes in the 
