Page:Fur and the Fur Trade.djvu/10

6 cuttings of fancy furs from the workshops of furriers are all saved, and find their way to the machinery which utilizes the waste and transforms them into hatters' furs. But of all these fur marts that of London is the chief, for thither tend by the laws of trade, not only much of the produce of Asia and Europe, but also the fine peltries of Chili and Peru, the nutria from Buenos Ayres, the fur seal of Cape Horn and South Shetland, the hair seal from Newfoundland, 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.

Kinds and Quantities.—Few kinds of animals furnish a pelt of suitable weight and pliability, and all of them differ widely in elegance of texture, delicacy of shade, and fineness of overhair, and it is these differences which determine their place in the catalogue of merchandise. These few animals are not very prolific, and many of them attain their greatest beauty in wild and uncultivated regions. To this remark there are some notable exceptions. Being thus few in kind, and limited in quantity, one might fear the extinction of the several choice varieties through the persistent energy of the trapper. But here the fickleness of fashion steps in, and does for the fur trade what the law of supply and demand does for the more staple articles of commerce. Fashion, fastidious and fickle, neglects the use of certain kinds for a season; the market price of the pelt no longer repays the outfit of the trapper; the hunt is intermitted, and in two or three years the animal regains its numbers and strength. The annual collection of furs is thus a matter of ceaseless change; but the following may be relied on as an estimate correct enough for all practical purposes:—