214 
THE BEAVER. 
ern parts of America, even at the present 
time, after the trade in their furs has been 
carried on for so many years, is very grea^ 
In 1820 , sixty thousand beaver-skins were sol<l 
by the Hudson’s Bay Company alone. In ^ 
the Atlantic and western States, as far as th^ 
middle and upper waters of the Missouri, tb® 
animals have been exterminated ; in the 
son’s Bay territories they are annually be' 
coming more scarce; so that at no distant 
period probably the race will be extinguished^ 
throughout the whole continent. 
In the countries watered by the tributary 
streams of the Alissouri and Mississipi, the 
Indians take the beavers principally by trap' 
ping, being generally supplied with steel-trap^ 
by the traders, who do not sell but only lend^ 
them, in order to keep the Indians dependent 
on themselves, and to claim the furs whic*’ 
they may procure. The business of trapping 
requires great experience and caution, tb® 
