HISTORY OF THE ADIRONDACK BEAVER. 401 



of the genus Myopotamus, and attains nearly half the average size of the 

 beaver, and like the musquash, the coypu is very prolific. 



1 ' Its introduction to commerce was very recent though of great impor- 

 tance, and the fact should not be overlooked that but for its contribu- 

 tion to the hatters, our Canadian beaver would not have survived so long. 

 All accounts from North America during the latter half of the last century 

 [the eighteenth] which made reference at all to the fur trade, agree in stating 

 that the beaver would soon be extinct; but about 1820 the immense demand 

 was relieved by this new fur, called nutria — (from the Spanish, nutra, 

 the otter). The fur was plentiful and cheap, and sufficiently fine to sup- 

 plant the beaver for all hatters' purposes, but had the discovery of silk 

 been longer delayed it is doubtful whether the increasing demand could 

 have been sustained for many years. When the silk hat succeeded to the 

 enviable position which the ' beaver ' for centuries had monopolized, it 

 became necessary to find another outlet for the skins which hitherto had 

 been consumed almost exclusively by the hatters' trade. We, therefore, 

 find the furriers introducing the manufacture of the tanned or dressed 

 skins into their business, and nutria, the skin of the coypu, is to-day among 

 the best imitations of beaver, otter and seal."* 



Earl>$ Adirondack Records 



In 1 81 5, DeKay states, " a party of St. Regis Indians from Canada 

 ascended the Oswegatchie river, in the county of St. Lawrence, in pursuit 

 of beaver. In consequence of the previous hostilities between this country 

 and England, this district had not been hunted for some years, and the 

 beaver had consequently been undisturbed. The party, after an absence 

 of a few weeks, returned with three hundred beaver skins. These were 

 seen by my informant [Mr. T. O. Fowler], who adds that since that time 

 [181 5] very few have been observed." 



Merriam's records of beaver killed during the next two decades are 

 worth verbatim copy, as by that time the beaver had become so rare that 

 individual cases are of interest. He writes: 



* Castorologia, p. 35. 



