FUR AND THE FUR TRADE. (OF. force, fuerre, It. fodero, case, sheath, from Goth. Nit., AS. fodder, OIIG. fuotar, Ger. Putter, sheath). Many species of animals, especially those living in cold cli mates, have a soft, silky covering called fur, which in some animals is mixed with a covering entirely different in texture, long and straight, called the over-hair. It is often this over-hair which gives the distinctive peculiarity and beauty to the fur. The use of the skins of beasts with the fur still on them, as clothing,' is of very ancient origin. The Chinese and Japanese used furs as articles of luxury at least 2500 years ago. Herodotus mentions their use by other ancient peoples. By the Romans furs were much prized, especially during the later days of the Empire. The Saracens also made great use of them, and from them the Crusaders brought them into general favor in Europe, where so much ex travagance was exhibited in their use that in both France and England sumptuary edicts were issued against this fashion. But such laws, like most regulations of the sort, had little effect, and the demand for furs continued among all classes of people. It was to meet this demand that those pioneer explorers, the trappers and traders, penetrated the northern forests of America, and established little trading stations which proved the vanguards of civilization. Albany and Saint Louis, and many other flourishing American cities, are the outgrowth of these stations. In the early days the most valuable furs could be obtained from the Indians in exchange for glass beads or other trifles. At one time this trade was carried on, especially in Canada, by coureurs des boil; but the scandalous practices of these reckless rangers brought the trade into such disrepute that a licensing system was es tablished.
Beaver-skins were used in New Amsterdam and elsewhere in place of gold and silver for currency, and the figure of a beaver is a con spicuous device 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 of the Spanish invasion of Mexico and South America. The famous Hudson Bay Com pany 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. Toward the close of the eighteenth
century, certain Canadian merchants formed the Northwest Fur Company, having their headquar ters 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 to the Hudson Bay Company. In 1821 the two companies united. In 1763 some merchants of New Orleans estab lished a fur-trading post where Saint Louis now stands, under the management of the brothers Chouteau. For the first half of the nineteenth century the Saint 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 New York, who began by trading in a small way after his arrival in the country in 1784. By 1810-12 his trade, conducted under the name of the American 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 im portant seal-fishery. This field was so eagerly worked that it was found necessary to limit the taking of seals to the bachelor males, lest the animals should be altogether exterminated.
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 Leip zig. Of the fur marts, London is the chief; for thitler tends, by the laws of trade, not only much of the produce of Asia and Europe, but also the fine peltries of Chile and Peru, the nutria from Buenos Ayres, the fur-seal of Cape Horn and South Shetland, the hair-seal from Newfound land, 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 packing in hogsheads. All other raw furs are marketed in bales.