The term fur is sometimes distinctively applied to hairy animal skins when prepared for being made into articles of dress, etc, while the name of peltry is given to them in an unprepared state or when merely dried. The animals chiefly sought after for the sake of their furs were the beaver, raccoon, musk-rat, squirrel, hare, rabbit, the chinchilla, bear (black, grey, and brown), otter, sea-otter, seal, wolf, wolverine or glutton, marten, ermine, lynx, coypou (nutria), polecat (fitch), opossum, fox, etc. All the preparation that skins require before being sent to the market is to make them perfectly dry, so as to prevent them from putrefying. This is done by exposing them to the heat of the sun or a fire. The small skins are sometimes previously steeped in a solution of alum. When stored in large quantities they must be carefully preserved from dampness, as well as from moths. The fur-dresser, on receiving the skins, first subjects them to a softening process. He next cleans them from loose pieces of the integument by scraping them with a metalblade. Finally, the fur is cleaned and combed, after which it is handed over to the cutter, who cuts the furs out into the various shapes required to make different articles.
In Europe the furtrade was fed chiefly by Russia, which yielded great quantities of furs, especially in the Asiatic portion of her dominions. Austria, Turkey, Scandinavia, etc, also yielded a certain quantity.
The furtrade of America has long been highly important, and several great trading companies were engaged in it, of which the Dutch East India Company was first. The French early took up the furtrade in Canada, and their chain of forts and trading posts at one time extended from Hudson's Bay to New Orleans. Quebec and Montreal were at first trading posts. In 1670 Charles II granted to Prince Rupert and others a charter empowering them to trade exclusively with the aborigines of the Hudson's Bay region. A company, then and after called the Hudson's Bay Company, was formed, which for a period of nearly two centuries possessed a monopoly of the furtrade in the vast tract of country known as the Hudson's Bay Territory. In the winter of 1783-1784 another company was formed at Montreal, called, the North-west fur Company, which disputed the right of the Hudson's Bay Company, and actively opposed it. After a long and bitter rivalry the two companies united in 1821, retaining the name of Hudson's Bay Company. The monopoly which had hitherto been enjoyed by the original company about Hudson's Bay was much extended; but in 1868 an act of parliament was passed to make provision for the surrender, upon certain terms, of all the territories belonging to the company, and for their incorporation with the Dominion of Canada. In 1869 the surrender was carried out, Canada paying 300,000 pounds to the company by way of compensation. The company still possessed large stretches of valuable land, and many houses, forts, and posts in the region formerly belonging to it. Its operations even extended beyond British America into the United States and to the Sandwich Islands and Alaska. It employed a large staff of agents, traders, Indian hunters, etc. Some of its posts were situated far north, almost approaching the Arctic Ocean.
In the United States, the fur-trade, especially that trade in beaverfur, was an important element in the economic life of all the colonies in the seventeenth century, and in the struggle between England and France for the possession of North America, also in all negotiations respecting the northwest boundary of the United States. In 1809 John Jacob Astor secured the incorporation of the American Fur Company. He founded Astoria in Oregon, and attempted to connect it with Mackinaw by a line of posts and consolidate the whole north-western fur-trade. After the War of 1812 he renewed his attempt. In 1816 the American Congress passed an act excluding foreign fur-traders. Research Fur-Trade
The Abyssinian Cat (RabbitCat) is a breed of domestic shorthaired cat, possibly descended from antiquity. In modern times, it was imported from Abyssinia to Britain in the 1860s. The coat of the usual variety is ruddy brown with each hair ringed with two or three darker coloured bands. It has a medium-length body, long, slender legs, large wide set ears, and deep gold or green eyes. It resembles cats that appear in ancient Egyptian wall paintings. The breed was recognised in Britain 1882 and is now most widely bred in the USA. There are many varieties of Abyssinian Cat. Research Abyssinian Cat
The agouti is a small rodent of the genus Dasyprocta, forming the family Dasyproctidae. There are eight or nine species found in the forests of Central and South America. The agouti is herbivorous, swift-running, and about the size of a rabbit, but resembling a slender-limbed pig, brown to yellow in colour with a white line along the abdomen. It burrows in the ground or in hollow trees, lives on vegetables, doing much injury to the sugar-cane, is as voracious as a pig, and makes a similar grunting noise. Its flesh is white and well tasted. Research Agouti
Chimaera is a genus of cartilaginous fishes. Almost the only known species is the Chimaera monstrosa, which inhabits the northern seas, and is sometimes called King of the herrings, and, from its two pairs of large teeth, rabbit-fish. There is but one gill-opening, and the tail terminates in a point, the fish having on the whole a singular appearance. It seldom exceeds one metre in length. Research Chimaera
The chinchilla is a small squirrel-like herbivorous rodent found in the Andes of Chile and Bolivia. They are very closely allied to the rabbit, which they resemble in the general shape of the body, in the limbs being longer behind than before, in the conformation of the rootless molars, and by the nature of the fur, which is more woolly than silky; but differing from the rabbit in the number of
their incisors and molars, in a greater length of tail, and also in having broader and more rounded ears. Chinchilla lanigera a species about 15 inches long, is covered with a beautiful pearly-gray fur, which is highly esteemed as stuff for muffs, pelisses, linings, fur coats etc. The chinchilla lives gregariously in the mountains of most parts of South America, and makes numerous and very deep burrows. It is of a gentle nature, very sportive, losing none of its gaiety in captivity, and living very cleanly. Research Chinchilla
Distoma is a genus of trematode or suctorial parasitical worms or flukes, inhabiting various parts in different animals. Distoma hepaticum, or common liverfluke, inhabits the gall-bladder or ducts of the liver in sheep, and is the cause of the disease known as the rot. They have also been discovered in man (though rarely), the horse, the pig, the rabbit, birds, etc. In form it is ovate, flattened, and presents two suckers (whence the name), of which the anterior is perforated by the aperture of the mouth. A branched water-vascular system is present. All the animals of this genuspresent the phenomenon known as 'alternation of generation'. Research Distoma
The fox (once popularly known as a Russel) is an animal of the genus Vulpes closely allied to the dog and found throughout the northern hemisphere. Foxes have a straight bushy tail, elongated pupils and erect ears. Foxes are intelligent (frequently described as sly), adaptable and omnivorous, consuming small animals, eggs, honey and refuse, feeding mainly at night.
The common fox (Vulpes canis) is a reddish-brown colour with white beneath.
Foxes often live in a burrow formerly occupied by a rabbit or badger, which they adapt for their own liking. Some varieties of fox, mainly the silver and black varieties, are prized for their fur. Research Fox
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Fur-Trade
