The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-11
win coll him by that marx, Red Head

Chief. "
On everv conceivable jov and sorrow of
hecamnhe will beoons iIte1, and " 100 to his
yearly returns II he fails Of Effective advicel
he NAV cemonstr te beyond n Teqson-
abledoubt the nonsense Of their old customs
9nd superstitiOns They will not helieN e
him and he will lose their hunt unless he
can give instant answer and efecti, .
remedy. =
or instance. Last wear when a leading
trader came horne to his fur post from 9
trip afeld he found one family in deep n
noisy distress. Tomtoms were rounding.
~ ond Young we're dencing SOME rel!g-
ious dance. wringing their hands and tear
ing their h"ir. The medicine man In the
tepae howle ! like demon possesse1.
What was the matter1 ooh, very bad
medicine Iluckll 1t was the evil eye!'
The lover who had been rejected had cast
his balefnl lance on the happy bride with
dire predictions that in such and such a
time would she begin to fade away: and
now she lies on the bearskin robe in the
teepee, colorless as ashes, literally, ply
sically, hopelessly i'll with fright.
The medicine man IL bowling to brighten
the evil spirit away. The tomtoms are
drumming to terrifv the malign power.
The dance il to propitiate the good powers;
and the father is turning handsprings round
the teepee to let the evil spirit know that
he sees u, is after 1t, and will presently
iahu a OtO~ WIJD I1c hhll CIdChcI III llS
hand that will smash the Uranium Of the
invisible spirit TO n~othingness. Now the
young trader might argue himself black
in the face that there Ia no such thing As
the evil eye. He will lose hat family's
hunt unless he can rouse the fair bride to
instant vigor.
So he joins his efforts to theirs. Yes.
let the camp fire burn low. Evil spirits
escape best through the dark. Let the
medicine man keep up his powwow. Here,
n@RNA - ~eWV. H. - N " A~
watch through the dark Tor a fash. Let the
girl call out II she feels the thing escaping
through her arm A quick slash OF the
knife! The father has seen the light on
the blade. the girl has felt the cut. They
swear they saw 1t escape from her arm.
And all the young trader has done is ex-
actly what the physicians Of our fore
fathers did-let a little blood and cured
hvsteria by iocalizing a real pain. And the
bride rises from her bed.
To-day the rarest furs are undoubtedly
silver and black fox. In a single wear az
many az 1000 Of these lave been taken from
the Canadian Northwest; hut not all were
equally valuable. The silver fox, perhaps.
Is worth from $40 to $500 a pelt; the black
fox from SIS to $3.50. although az much as
500 has been paid for a fancy pelt OF abso-
lutely perfect texture.
What 10 the silver fox? Science considers
IL a freak, a sport, among the black foxes .
caught at the moment when the hair is
Cuitii,k irom pidCh 10 gray, OF gray 10 OitCk,
according to age and season. Against this
l wish TO set down the opinion Of the ex-
perienced hunter on the field.
He ftnds silver foxes in ltters with red and
cross and black. Therefore, he says, 10 Ia
not a distinct species. but it is a distinct
kind and he ascribes it's kind directly TO its
parentage. Either the father or the mother
fox has been a silver fox. In view OF the
disputes of the naturalists, the hunters
opinion is worth considering.
Besides the silver and black fox, the
standard furs are what they have always
b~een-beaver Inc mink and marten and
otter and fisher, not forgetting the common
Little fellows with whose pelts we line our
coatS-muskrat of which as many as
100000 a year have come out Of the West,
worth from IS cents a pelt TO ( cents.
What does the native trapper earn?
Again, that varies with the caprice OF fash
ion and the luck of the field; but unless the
ft Id has been visited by a pest that carries
on the rabbits, which are thefood OF MANY
other fur bearing animals. or an early severe
winter comes that freezes the beaver up
before they have aid in their storcs, | dc
not think | am m~isstating il when I say that
the poorest trapper need not earn less than
$500 a year, and the average for the good
trapper would be $1,000 or more-higher,
when the conditions are considered, than
the professional earnings Of many an edu-
Gated man.
II need scarcely be explained that,
although strong opposition to the Hudson's
Bay Company has come on the field, the old
warfare OF a hundred years ago will never
be repeated. The era of bludgeon and dirk
is forever past in the fur country. Civil
law now prevails there. The whole region
is policed, although there is yet no need Of a
single jail. That is something the most
countries cannot boast.