M'arthur Democrat. (McArthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1853-1865, 1859-01-13
Sdrtt gflistrllann.
Few Words about Turs.

Some interesting facts relative to
the fur trade of the Hudson Bays
Company are related in the CORES
pondence of the New Hamshirt
Statesman. The furs are peltries OF
the company comprise the following
varieties. Fox, of several colors,
black and brown bear; sable, otter,
lynx, beavers, raccoon, mink, mas
quash, wolf, seal, martin squirrel and
ermine. The most important in the
lit is sable, of which about one hun.
dred and twenty five thousand are
collected by the company annually
In England, the sable, which was
presented to Henry l., in the early
part of the eleventh century, by the
Bishop Of Lincoln, cost no less than
G1OO, which, in those days was an i'm
mense sum.
The Russian or Siberian sable is
most esteemed, being softer and more
silky than the American. Russia
produces about twenty five thousand
Of them annually. The price CORE.
spends with the abundance and CLOS
sy blackness Of the upper coat q
high garment not unirequentIy cost
ing $24O The civic robes Of the
Lord Mayor and Corporation Of Lon.
don, which, according to the munici.
pal law and long usage, must be worn
on State occasions, which are very
numerous, arc trimmed with sable
Nearly nine tenthS OF the Am rican
sable skins, amounting to one hun
dred and.live thousand annually, for.
warded blythe Hudson Bay Company,
are sent to France and Germany,
where it is greatly admiredfor ladies
wear.
Ofmartin skins the company gath
cred in one year fourteen thousand,
and the French free traders in Cana
exported thirty-three thousand three
hundred and twenty-five Of them in
the same year.
The most valuable among the var
tiles of fox are the black or silver-a
single skin often commanding at
wholesale $500, and even $780,.
About one thousand of them are col
lected annually by the company, and
nearly all 60 to Russia and China for
lining and trimmings to dresses.
The fur Of the sea otter is used for
similar purpose, and for, caps collars,
and robes. About fifteen or twenty
thousand are collected annually, and .
will 60 TO China, where a single skin .
fetches $75, a few which go to Russia
Turkey, and Greece.
Lynx and lynx cat are now out of
fashion iu Europe, and are dyed and
prepared for expectation to this coun,
try. Wolf skins 90 to Russia for
sleigh robes. Beaver has become a
drug since the era of cotton hats
Beaver skins are used in the army
for military caps and pistol holsters
The brown Beaver, which was in
great demand in Europe fifty years
ago, a single skin often commanding
fifty guineas, now seldom brings five.
The pole-cat skin is much admired for
its beauty. but it is hardly ever used,
in consequence of its bad order.--I
Squirrel is used in immense quaint.
ties all over Europe, and the Hudson
Bay Company export vast quantities
to the continent. 1t is extensively
and successfully dyed in imitation of
Russian sable. Its lightness makes it
highly priced, the belly Of the dark
blue variety being said to weigh no
more than pound and half, when
made a full sized cloak. The Lowell
Journal says.
"The ermine has been for more than
q thousand years associated with the
loftiest dignity of the British throne
and bench. In the language of Her
aldry, this fur is styled u,inever, The
coronation robes of all the royal tami-
" are ermine, studded over with small
black tufts of wool of the black As
racban lamb inserted in every square