FUR TRADE ; FUR DRESSING. The use of furs appears to have been introduced into civilised Europe by the northern con querors.
The fur trade was taken up by the French colonists of Canada; and, through the igno rance of the Indians, the traders at first made very great profits. When the hunting season was over, the Indians came down the Ottawa in their canoes, with the furs, and encamped outside the town of Montreal, where a kind of fair was held until the furs were all exchanged for trinkets, &c. At a later period, European settlers under the name of Coureurs des Bois, or wood-rangers, set out at the proper season from Montreal in canoes loaded with various articles, and proceeded up the river to the hunting grounds, where they conducted their traffic with the hunters, and returned with the furs or peltries.
The Hudson's Bay Company, established for the express object of procuring furs, was chartered by Charles II. in 1670. This asso ciation founded several establishments. In 1793 a rival association, called the North West Company, was established by some British settlers in Canada ; and from that time till 182.1 great jealousy and enmity existed be tween the agents in the two companies. An amalgamation took place in 1821 : and the Company have recently added Vancouver Is land to their territories. The clerks, agents, &c., of the United Company are very nume rous. All the furs collected by the Hudson's Bay Company are shipped to London, some from their factories of York Fort, and on Moose River, in Hudson's Bay ; other por tions from Montreal, and the remainder from the Columbia River.
The fur trade is prosecuted in the north western territories of the United States by an association called the North American Fur Company, the principal managers of which reside in New York. The Company employs steam-boats for ascending the rivers, which penetrate with ease to regions which could formerly be explored only through the most painful exertions in keel boats and barges, or by small parties on horseback or on foot. There is also a Russian Fur Company, in the extreme north-west of America.
The following are the principal skins taken for the sake of the fur :---The ermine, called by way of pre-eminence ' the precious ermines is found almost exclusively in the cold region, of Europe and Asia. The fur of the ermine
is of a pure whiteness throughout, with the exception of the tip of the tail, which is black; and the spotted appearance of ermine skins, by which they are peculiarly known, is pro duced by fastening these black tips at inter vals on the skins. The stoat is an inferior kind of ermine. The sable is a native of Northern Europe and Siberia ; those of the darkest colour are the most esteemed. _Mar tens are found in North America as well as in Northern Asia ; the American skins are gene rally the least valued, but many among them are rich and of a beautiful dark brown olive colour. The fiery fox, so called from its bril liant red colour, is taken near the north-east coast of Asia, and its fur is much valued, both for its colour and fineness, in that quarter of the world. Nutria skins are chiefly used by hat-manufacturers as a substitute for beaver. Sea-Otter fur, of the young animal, is of a beautiful brown colour, but when older the colour becomes jet black. The fur is exceed ingly fine, soft, and close, and bears a silky gloss. Fur-Seals are found in great numbers in the colder latitudes of the southern hemi sphere. Bears, foxes, beavers, racoons, bad gers, minks, lynxes, musk-rats, rabbits, hares, and squirrels are procured in North America. Furs may be classed as felting furs and dres sed furs. The 'first includes all such as are employed in bat-making, and are principally the skins of the hare, the rabbit, the beaver, and the neutria.
The mode of preparing beaver fur for the hatter will sufficiently illustrate the treatment of furs generally. The pelt or skin is so greasy, that it requires to be scoured with ful ler's earth and whiting before it attains a suffi cient state of cleanness. The coarse hairs are pulled out by the knife and thumb, and, being of no Use to the hatter, they are sold as a stuffing for cushions. Then comes the cut ting or cropping, which is at the present day, and in the largest establishments, effected by a very beautiful machine. There is a long broad and sharp blade, so adjusted as to fall rapidly with a chopping action against or near the edge of another blade beneath. The fur falls down in a light flocculent layer on an endless apron beneath, whence it is removed when the pelt has been shorn. [HAT MANu