FUBS AND THEIR WEARERS. 



HZ 



FURS AND THEIE WEAEEES. 



By JAMES H. PARTKIDGE. 



THE skins used for fancy furs and robes are mostly obtained from 

 the carnivorous or flesh-eating animals ; as the sable, marten, 

 mink, ermine, seal, otter, bear, etc. : some are obtained from the ro- 

 dents or gnawers ; as the beaver, coypou, or nutria, muskrat, rabbit, 

 etc. : and a few are obtained from the ruminants, or those that chew 

 the end ; as the bison, that supplies our buffalo-robes ; and the paseng 

 or wild-goat of Persia and the Caucasus, and the Assyrian or Siberian 

 sheep, from whose young kids and lambs we obtain the much-used 

 Astrakhan. We give illustrations of the principal fur-bearing ani- 

 mals, several of which are taken from Tenney's excellent "Manual of 

 Zoology." 



Fio. 1. 



American Buffalo. (Tenney.) 



As furs are generally worn by those who consult taste rather than 

 necessity, their use depends very much upon fashion and caprice. 

 Hence their price varies much at different times, and is not always 

 regulated by their intrinsic value. As it is natural to prefer articles 

 that are rare and far-fetched, and as furs can be easily carried to any 

 part of the world, most prefer foreign to domestic furs of the same 

 quality. Thus we export much of our fox, marten, fisher, otter, bea- 

 ver, and muskrat fur, while we import Astrakhan, Eussian sable, er- 

 mine, Siberian squirrel, French rabbit, or cony, chinchilla, and nu- 

 tria fur. 



At the present time, much of the fur worn is colored. In some 

 cases, the hair, fur, and skin, are all colored ; as the Astrakhan : but in 

 most cases the end of the hair or fur only is tinted, while the skin re- 



