FUR AND FURRIERY (ante). Trade in furs began with the first European settle ments in North America, and beaver-Skins were used in New Amsterdam and elsewhere in place of gold and silver for currency. The figure of a beaver is a conspicuous figure on the escutcheon of the city of New York. The search for furs was one of the objects of the daring expeditions of the voyagers of French Canada, as the search for gold was the motive power of Spanish invasion of Mexico and South America. The famous IIudson's bay company originated in 1670, and claimed the entire country from the bay to the Pacific and from the great lakes to the Arctic ocean, except such portions as were then occupied by Frenchmen and Russians. Towards the close of the 18th c., certain Canadian merchants formed the Northwest fur compiny, having their headquarters at Montreal, their operations being carried on in the districts watered by rivers that flow to the Pacific. This organization soon became a formidable competitor with the Hudson's bay company. In 1821, the two companies united. The charter expired some years ago, and the once powerful organization is now a simple trading-company. In 1763, some merchants of New Orleans established a fur-trading post where St. Louis now stands, under the management of the brothers Chouteau. For the first half of the pres ent century the St. Louis trade was from $200,000 to $300,000 a year. One of the most famous of early American fur-traders was John Jacob Astor, of 1.TeW York, who began by trading in a small way upon his arrival in the country in 1784. By 1810-12, his trade, conducted under the name of the Aintrican fur company, was enormous. An entirely new field for American enterprise was opened by the purchase of Alaska in 1867, which secured complete control of an important seal-fishery. This field was so eagerly worked that it was found necessary to limit the taking of seals to 100,000 per year, and those only to be hiales, lest the animals should be altogether exterminated. The annual value of the trade in Alaska alone is about $1,250,000.
Collectors and dealers in Canada and the United States forward their furs to the sea board. chiefly to New York, for sale there, or for consignment principally to London
and Leipsic. In the latter town, spring and autumn fairs are still maintained, at which every kind of wares are sold or.exchanged with dealers from Turkey, Austria, and Rus sia. Nijni-Novgo•od is the chief fair for European Russia, though very important fairs arc also held in Kasan and in Irbit, among the Ural mountains. The most impor tant fair for eastern Siberia is held at Kiachta, on the borders of China, where an exten sive exchange of furs is carried on with the Chinese. Japan has entered very little into the fur trade, though her northern shores have furnished many fine fur-seals and sea otters to the hardy navigator. Staple furs, or those used chiefly in the manufacture of hats, are those of the hare and the rabbit, collected mainly in Russia, Germany, France, and England; dressed, carroted, and cut from the skin in western Germany. France, Belgium, and England; and thence distributed to the manufacturing centers of the world; and here it may be added that the clippings and cuttings of fancy furs from the workshops of furriers are all saved, and find their way to the machinery which utilizes the waste and transforms them into hatters' furs. • But of all these fur marts, that of London is the chief, for thither tends, by the laws of tradc, not only much of the prod uce of Asia and Europe, but also the fine peltries of Chili and Peru, the nutria from Buenos Ayres, the fur-seal of Cape Horn and South Shetland, the hair-seal from New foundland, as well as the inferior peltries of Africa. To prepare fur skins in a way to endure this long transportation is a simple and easy matter. When stripped from the animal the flesh and fat are carefully removed, and the pelts hung in a cool place to dry and harden; nothing is added to protect them. Care is taken that they do not heat after packing, and that they are occasionally beaten to destroy worms. A marked exception is the case of the fur-seal, which is best preserved by liberal salting and pack ing in hogsheads. All other raw furs are marketed in bales.