this is said to be owing to the circumstance that the beaver-pelt is very regular in thickness and uniform in surface; whereas, most of the other pelts are irregular or unequable. If the blade of the machine by passing over an irregular part of the pelt should cut off a small bit of the latter, it would be the means of spoiling the mass of fur unless removed. Attempts have been made to detach the fur from the pelt by chemical instead of mechanical means. In tanning and leather-dressing, the hair and wool of the animal are often loosened by being exposed for some hours to the action of some acid or other chemical agent: and it has been supposed that the same result would be obtained with the furs used by hatters; but it is found that, though separable by such means, the fur is injured in its felting properties an objection fatal to the adoption of the plan.

Beaver skins have recently been brought to an excellent state for robes and other garments, by processes devised by Mr. Roberts, a London furrier. Other kinds of fur besides the four above-named are employed in hat-making, but are not so generally serviceable. Mole fur is fine and regular, but is almost too short to be available. Musquash or musk-rat fur is employed to some considerable extent. Seal-fur presents a dull appearance when worked up as a covering to a hat, being deficient in the delicate glossiness which distinguishes beaver. Otter fur is finer than that of the seal, and is so far more serviceable, but it does not take a good black-dye. According to the price at which a hat is intended to be sold, so is the selection of the fur employed. A good beaver hat contains in the foundation or body a mixture of fine wool with rabbit's fur, and in the covering beaver-fur alone; this is the standard, from which a departure takes place according to the price. The use of this last-named fur, however, has much lessened in recent years.

Some kinds of fur which are rather deficient in the felting property are made to undergo a process termed "carrotting," so called from the colour imparted thereby to the fur. This consists in wetting the skin (before the fur has been yet cropped from the pelt) with dilute sulphuric acid, and quickly drying it either near a strong fire or by means of a heated iron passed over it. The fur of the same species of animal often differs very much in felting quality, according to the district where the animal is found. Thus, the fur of the rabbit is said to possess a stronger felting quality when obtained from an animal reared near the sea-coast than from an inland animal; those of the eastern coast of England, from Lincolnshire to the Tweed, are considered the finest. The fur of the English hare, as a second example, is found to be both finer in quality and stronger in felting power than that of any other variety of the hare.

Dressed Furs.-By this term may be designated those furs which are retained on the original pelt, and in that state worn as garments or trimmings of garments, in the forms of cloaks, tippets, cuffs, collars, &c. Such an employment of furs was very much a matter of necessity among the rude tribes where the custom was first followed. At first the skins were worn almost in the state in which they were taken from the animals but as the use of luxuries advanced, the art of dressing the skins became established, and fur took rank as an adornment as well as a covering.

The dressing of furs for this purpose, or furriery, is much more simple than the preparation of felting fur for the hatter, since it does not involve the separation of the filaments from the pelt beneath. The fur-hunters of America, when they have captured a beaver or other fur-bearing animal, strip off the skin, and hang it up to dry, either in the open air, or in a dry and cool room where there is no fire. Great importance is attached both to the drying and to the careful packing of the skins; for if the slightest degree of putrefaction ensues, the fur loses its firm hold of the pelt, and is not fit for furriers' purposes. When the skins are brought to England, and placed in the hands of the furrier, he examines them minutely, to see that the drying has been properly effected, and the pelt in a firm state. He then proceeds to the two processes which constitute the main part of his business, namely, extracting the greasiness from the pelt, and also a kind of oil which is in the fur itself. The skin is put into a liquid containing bran, alum, and salt; and after sufficient steeping it is worked about and scoured, so as to remove the grease. The fur is cleansed from its oiliness by an application of soda and fine soap. The cleansed skin is finally washed thoroughly in cold water, and hung up to dry. The alum and other ingredients employed in scouring the pelt effect a kind of tanning or tawing process, by which the pelt is converted into a sort of thin leather, and thereby rendered more durable.

When thus far prepared, the skins are ready to be worked up into the form of garments, or materials for garments. In order to give the surface of the fur a uniform length and colour of fibre, it is often necessary to cut up a great many skins, and sew certain pieces of each edge to edge; for it is rarely if ever the case that every part of the same skin is of one uniform colour. The cutting up of a skin thus becomes an important affair; for unless considerable tact be exhibited, many of the smaller pieces would become waste. The furs which are used for these purposes are in general different from those selected for felting; they comprise usually the gray, the silver, and the black fox, the sable, the bear, the lynx, the ermine, the mink, the chinchilla, the marten, the wolf, the fitchet, and a few others of less common character.

The preservation of furs, when kept in stock for manufacturing purposes, is a point of considerable importance, from the several sources of injury to which they are exposed. If kept too damp, they rot; if too dry, they diminish in weight. The great enemy to all furs," says a practical writer on this subject in the Encyclopædia Britannica,' "is the common moth. This destroys the felting principle. Whenever the slightest appearance in the fur indicates the secure lodgment of this little creature, it ought immediately to be used; or, if this cannot be done, it should be taken out of the paper-bags, and broken all over with a small switch rod, or, what will answer the purpose still better, a hatter's bow. The same rules apply to the keeping of skins in good condition as to fur. The situation ought to be cool, dry, and well aired. They will seldom keep longer than twelve or eighteen months, without running great risk of suffering injury from the moth or black beetle. Too many ought not to be heaped together, and particularly if they be rabbit skins, because the fat or grease about these skins will get heated, run amongst the fur, and become of such an acrid nature as to corrode the very pelt itself. Many persons are inclined to keep hare and rabbit skins a long time, from a notion that the fur upon them will increase in length from the moisture left in the pelt. This is an entirely erroneous opinion. Any one who will make the experiment will find that the amount of fur obtained off any given quantity of skins is much greater in weight when manufactured immediately after they are taken off the animal, than after having been kept for six or twelve months."

FURS and the FUR-TRADE. The use of furs appears to have been introduced into civilised Europe by the northern conquerors. In the 6th century the skins of sables were brought for sale from the confines of the Arctic Ocean to Rome, through the intervention of many different hands, so that the ultimate cost to the consumer was very great. For several centuries after that time furs could not have become at all common in Western Europe. Marco Polo mentions as a matter of curiosity in 1252, that he found the tents of the Cham of Tartary lined with the skins of ermines and sables, which were brought from countries far north, from the land of darkness. But in less than a century from that time the fashion of wearing furs must have become prevalent in England; for in 1337 Edward III. ordered that all persons among his subjects should be prohibited their use unless their free incomes amounted to one hundred pounds a year. The furs then brought to England were furnished by the traders of Italy, who procured them from the north of Asia.

The fur trade was taken up by the French colonists of Canada very soon after their first settlement on the St. Lawrence; and through the ignorance of the Indians as to the value of the skins which they sold, and of the trinkets and other articles which they took in payment, the traders at first made very great profits. The animals soon becoming scarce in the neighbourhood of the European settlements, the Indians were obliged to extend the range of their hunting expeditions, in which they were frequently accompanied by one or other of the French dealers, whose object it was to encourage a greater number of Indians to engage in the pursuit, and to bring their peltries, as the unprepared skins are called, to the European settlements. When the hunting season was over, the Indians came down the Ottawa in their canoes with the produce of the chase, and encamped outside the town of Montreal, where a kind of fair was held until the furs were all exchanged for trinkets, knives, hatchets, kettles, blankets, coarse cloths, and other articles suited to native wants, including arms and ammunition. A large part of the value was usually paid to the Indians in the form of ardent spirits, and scenes of riot and confusion were consequently of frequent

occurrence.

The next stage in the Canadian fur-trade was when some of the European settlers, under the name of Coureurs des Bois, or woodrangers, set out at the proper season from Montreal in canoes laden with various articles considered desirable by the Indians, and proceeded up the river to the hunting-grounds. Here they remained for an indefinite time, sometimes longer than a year, carrying on their traffic with the Indian hunters; and when their outward investments were exhausted, they returned, their canoes in general loaded with packs of beaver-skins and other valuable peltries. While engaged in these expeditions, some of them adopted the habits of the tribe with whom they were associated, and formed connections with the Indian women. The half-caste children make excellent voyageurs, and are readily employed by the company in that capacity.

This trade was for some time extremely profitable. The men by whom it was conducted were usually without capital; and their investments of European goods were furnished by the storekeepers of Montreal, who drew at least their full proportion of profit from the adventure. The return cargo was generally more valuable than the investments, in the proportion of six to one, in the tariff of the Canadian markets. Thus, where the investment amounted to 1000 dollars, and the peltries returned sold for 6000, the storekeeper first repaid himself the original outlay, and usually secured for himself an equal amount for interest and commission, after which the remaining 4000 dollars were divided between himself and the Coureur des Bois.

The Hudson's Bay Company, established with the express object of procuring furs, was chartered by Charles II. in 1670, with the privilege of exclusively trading with the Indians in the vast and not well defined region lying to the north and west of the great inlet from which the

company takes its name. This association founded several establishments, and has ever since prosecuted the trade under the direction of a governor, deputy-governor, and a committee of management chosen from among the proprietors of the joint-stock, and resident in London. The company's charter not being confirmed by act of parliament, it was considered that all British subjects were entitled to engage in the trade with those regions; and, in conformity with this notion, a partnership was formed in 1783 under the name of the North-West Company, which proved a powerful competitor. This company consisted of twenty-three shareholders or partners, comprising some of the most wealthy and influential British settlers in Canada, and employed about 2000 persons as clerks, guides, interpreters, and boatmen or voyageurs, who were distributed over the face of the country. Such of the shareholders as took an active part were called agents; some of them resided at the different ports established by the company in the Indian territory, and others at Quebec and Montreal, where each attended to the affairs of the association. These active partners met once in every year at Fort William, one of their stations near the Grand Portage on Lake Superior, in order to discuss the affairs of the company and agree upon plans for the future. The young men who were employed as clerks were, for the most part, the younger members of respectable families in Scotland, who were willing to undergo the hardships and privations accompanying a residence for some years in these countries, that they might secure the advantage of succeeding in turn to a share in the profits of the undertaking: the partners, as others died or retired, being taken from among those who, as clerks, had acquired the experience necessary for the management of the business. This company had a settlement, called Fort Chippewyan, so far west as the Lake of the Hills, in 110° 26′ W. long.; and some of the Indians who traded with the persons stationed at this fort came from beyond the Rocky Mountains.

A great degree of jealousy and hostility arose between the respective agents of the Hudson's Bay and North-West companies, which more or less impeded the operations of both parties for several years, until in 1821 a junction of the two was effected, and the trade has since been prosecuted peacefully and successfully. Their presumed exclusive right of trading throughout the vast region which they have made the scene of their operations, is still guarded with extreme jealousy, as we shall see further on. All the furs collected by the Hudson's Bay Company are shipped to London,-some from their factories of York Fort and Moose River, in Hudson's Bay; other portions 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 chief station of this company is Michilimackinac, to which are brought all the peltries collected at the other ports on the Mississippi, Missouri, and Yellowstone rivers, and through the great range of country ex tending thence to the Rocky Mountains. This 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.

We shall here notice a few of the principal fur-bearing animals, referring the reader to the NATURAL HISTORY DIVISION for more specific information.

The ermine, called by way of pre-eminence "the precious ermine," is found almost exclusively in the cold regions of Europe and Asia. The stoat, which in fact is identical with the ermine, but the fur of which is greatly inferior to that of the European and Asiatic animal, is found in North America. 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 produced by fastening these black tips at intervals on the skins. The animal is from 14 to 16 inches long from the nose to the tip of the tail, the body being from 10 to 12 inches long. The best fur is yielded by the oldest animals. They are taken by snares and in traps, and are sometimes shot, while running, with blunt arrows. The sable is a native of Northern Europe and Siberia. The skins of best quality are procured by the Samoids, and in Yakutsk, Kamtchatka, and Russian Lapland: those of the darkest colour are the most esteemed. The length of the sable is from 18 to 20 inches. It has been considered by some naturalists a variety of the pine-marten. Martens are found in North America as well as in Northern Asia and the mountains of Kamtchatka: the American skins are generally the least valued, but many among them are rich and of a beautiful darkbrown olive colour. The fiery fox, so called from its brilliant red colour, is taken near the north-eastern coast of Asia, and its fur is much valued, both for its colour and fineness, in that quarter of the world. Neutria skins are obtained from South America, and the greater part of the importations in this country come from the states of the Rio de la Plata. These skins are of comparatively recent introduction, having first become an article of commerce in 1810: the fur is chiefly used by hat-manufacturers, as a substitute for beaver. Sea-Otter skins were first sought for their fur in the early part of the 18th century, when they were brought to Western Europe from the Aleutian and Kurile Islands; where, as well as in Behring's Island, Kamtchatka, and the neighbouring American shores, sea-otters are found in great numbers.

The fur of the young animal is of a beautiful brown colour, but when older the colour becomes jet-black. The fur is exceedingly fine, soft, and close, and bears a silky gloss. Towards the close of the 18th century furs had become exceedingly scarce in Siberia, and it became necessary to look to fresh sources for the supply of China and other Asiatic countries. It was about the year 1780 that sea-otter skins were first carried to China, where they realised such high prices as greatly to stimulate the search for them. With this view several expeditions were made from the United States and from England to the northern islands of the Pacific and to Nootka Sound, as well as to the north-west coast of America. The Russians then held and still hold the tract of country most favourable for this purpose, but the trading ships which frequent the coast are enabled to procure these skins from the Indians. Fur-seals are found in great numbers in the colder latitudes of the southern hemisphere. South Georgia, in 55° S. lat., was explored by Captain Cook in 1771, and immediately thereafter was resorted to by the colonists of British America, who conveyed great numbers of seal skins thence to China, where very high prices were obtained. The South Shetland Islands, in 63° S. lat., were greatly resorted to by seals, and soon after the discovery of these islands in 1818, great numbers were taken in 1821 and 1822 the number of seal skins taken on these islands alone amounted to 320,000. Owing to the system of extermination pursued by the hunters, these animals are now almost extinct in all those islands, and the trade for a time at least has ceased. The seal-fishery, or hunting, in the Lobos Islands, is placed under restrictive regulations by the government of Montevideo, and by this means the supply of animals upon them is kept pretty regular. Bears of various kinds and colours, many varieties of foxes, beavers, racoons, badgers, minks, lynxes, musk-rats, rabbits, hares, and squirrels, are procured in North America. the American varieties, the fur of the black fox, sometimes called the silver fox, is the most valuable; next to that in value is the fur of the red fox, which is exported to China, where it is used for trimmings, linings, and robes, which are ornamented in spots or waves with the black fur of the paws of the same animal. The fur of the silver fox is also highly esteemed. This is a scarce animal, inhabiting the woody country below the falls of the Columbia river. It has long thick fur of a deep lead colour, intermingled with long hairs white at the top, forming a lustrous silver-gray, whence the animal derives its name. The hides of bisons (improperly called buffaloes), of the sheep of the Rocky Mountains, and of various kinds of deer, form part of the fur-trade of North America; and sometimes the skin of the white Arctic fox and of the Polar bear are found in the packs brought to the European traders by the most northern tribes of Indians. There is but one species of fur which is peculiar to England, the silver-tipped rabbit of Lincolnshire. The colour of the fur is gray of different shades, mixed with longer hairs tipped with white. This fur is but little used in England, but meets a ready sale in Russia and China; the dark-coloured skins are preferred in the former country, and the lighter-coloured in China.

Of all

The fur-sales of the Hudson's Bay Company are held every year in the month of March, and being of great magnitude, they attract many foreign merchants to London. The purchases of these foreigners are chiefly sent to the great fair at Leipsic, whence the furs are distributed to all parts of the continent of Europe.

Circumstances of a remarkable kind have recently given a new interest to the American fur-trade, in relation to its political, proprietary, and commercial aspects. In the articles HUDSON'S BAY TERRITORIES, OREGON, and VANCOUVER, in the GEOGRAPHICAL DIVISION of this Cyclopædia, an account is given of the mode in which the Hudson's Bay Company's operations received an extension on the coast of the Pacific. Since the period when those articles were published, important events have occurred which call for some notice here, seeing that they are likely to affect the future course of the fur-trade. In 1856 gold was discovered on the banks of Fraser River, within a short distance of Vancouver Island, about 800 miles north of San Francisco, in California; and in 1857 the discovery was amply confirmed. The region belonged to England, but had been only interesting to Englishmen in so far as the Hudson's Bay Company had established fur-hunting stations upon it. Now, however, a new order of things commenced. If the gold were at all plentiful, it was certain to attract a large number of diggers from California, and adventurers from other quarters, and to bring about a state of society with which the company's servants would be incompetent to deal. The company have uniformly discouraged trading and colonising by any free trading community, in order to retain the monopoly of the fur-trade in their own hands. When the island of Vancouver was leased to them by the Crown, there was a virtual undertaking by them to colonise it; a condition which, though not actually evaded, has been but illfulfilled. A town, called Victoria, was established on the island; and this became the head-quarters of the company's operations in that region. The island is little more yet than an uncleared forest, with 20,000 aboriginal inhabitants and a small number of Europeans. Victoria has many of the elements for a magnificent port; it was a mere hamlet of 400 souls when the gold discovery was made; but it was speedily overrun by 6000 or 8000 adventurers, who came to it from all quarters as the nearest town to the gold-fields. Fortunately, Mr. Douglas, the chief officer, was a man of tact and energy, and proved

himself equal to the difficulties of his new position. It must be under stood that the company had no governing power in the island; they held a lease of the soil for ten years (1849 to 1859) for trading purposes, on condition of establishing a colony and disposing of land to emigrants; but the governor was appointed by the Crown, and legislative houses were chosen by the people. The company as well as the government felt that such an important island could not long remain in this anomalous condition; for it has all the capabilities for being a great naval station for British ships on the eastern margin of the Pacific, and is moreover very advantageously situated for commerce. It had become well understood that the lease to the company would not be renewed in 1859; but the gold discoveries on the adjacent coast rendered additional arrangements, necessary. In July 1858 the government brought a bill into the House of Commons for the establishment of a new colony to be called New Caledonia, to comprise the island of Vancouver and a wide stretch of the adjacent mainland. This mainland portion extends from the Pacific to the Rocky Mountains, about 300 miles; and from latitude 49° N. to about 55°, a little over 400 miles. No governor or magistrate of any kind existed within those limits, for Mr. Douglas only governed the island; and therefore speedy legislation became necessary, to prevent anarchy, and to secure the region to the British crown. The act proposed by the bill was to endure only until 1863, to afford an opportunity for modification in the governmental regulations. With a few amend ments and alterations the bill became a law (21 & 22 Vict. c. 99); but the name of the colony was changed from New Caledonia to British Columbia. A disagreement with the United States Government, in 1859, did not affect the general ownership of this new colony, but only referred to the small island of St. Juan, which is claimed by both nations, owing to a want of clearness in a treaty which settles the boundary in those regions at the 49th parallel of north latitude. The eventual colonisation of British Columbia will interfere a little with the fur-hunting arrangements of the Hudson's Bay Company; but it will exert still more influence by introducing the principles of unshackled trade into a region where strict monopoly has hitherto been maintained. There seems a probability, also, that the fur-trading privileges of the company in other quarters will shortly be curtailed; the wishes of the legislature in this respect were pretty strongly expressed in 1858 and 1859, in reference to certain licence-privileges erminable in 1860.

A committee of inquiry, appointed by the House of Commons in 1857, was the means of bringing to light much curious information concerning the fur-trade. Occurring before the events just noticed were fully known, the inquiries could not bear relation to the gold deposits, nor to the new political relations of the western coast; but as far as concerns the fur-trade, the information remains as true in 1860 as it was in 1857. This is the more valuable, because the company have always been very chary of communicating information concerning their commercial transactions; on this account, a few facts may suitably be introduced here.

The company's vast territories are ruled by a governor-in-chief, invested with large powers. For forty years this office has been held by Sir George Simpson. Under him are sixteen chief factors, controlling districts or provinces into which the territories are divided. Subordinate to these are twenty-five chief traders. Each factor or trader has a sort of metropolis or head-quarters, called a fort, factory, or post, large enough to accommodate a considerable number of persons, and strong enough to be defended against any hostile attacks by Indians. The chief factors and chief traders are not salaried servants; they are partners or shareholders, receiving, in return for their personal services, a definite percentage on the company's annual trading net profits. Under the factors and traders, or associated with them, are five surgeons, forty chaplains or missionaries (belonging to four Christian denominations), about a hundred and fifty clerks and postmasters or messengers, and twelve hundred servants or subordinates. Nearly all these persons receive their appointment from the directors of the company, and a large number of them are Orkney men. They go out at first under an engagement for five years; but most of them stop much longer, some as long as twenty-five or thirty years, and the average as many as fifteen. The first wages for servants, labourers, &c., is about 20l. a year, besides board, lodging, and other necessaries; and the men gradually rise in station and in salary according to their ability. The chief factors, with the governor-in-chief, constitute the members of a council, which meets annually in June, to review the whole events of the past year, and to make arrangements for the year next ensuing. If the factors from the more distant stations cannot conveniently come to make up a quorum of seven or eight, a few of the chief traders are admitted to complete the number. The governor-in-chief and the council of factors bear some such relation to the Hudson's Bay Board in London, as the governor-general and supreme council of India bore to the board of directors in the old East India Company; there are certain general rules and orders sent out from home, but a wide discretion is left in the application of

them.

So much for the relations between the company and their white servants; those with the natives bring us at once to the present mode of managing the fur-trade. Besides the persons already mentioned, the company employ five hundred voyageurs, to manage the canoes on

the rivers and portages; and an indefinite number of persons as servants, labourers, hunters, fishers, and assistants generally, just as their services are wanted. Nearly all these persons are Canadians or Europeans; or they are half-breeds, descendants of white men and native women. The Indians, the natives proper, are not servants of the company; they kill the animals, and bring the skins and furs to the trading posts; but each one is an independent trader, bartering and bargaining for himself. The independence is, however, a peculiar one. During the summer months the Indians work for the company at any odd jobs, if willing, and if their services are needed: but when winter is coming on, they set off to the hunting-grounds. Being poor and improvident, they have nothing to set out with; the company give them blankets, guns, and ammunition, which are to be paid for in the following spring, each article being valued at so many beaver-skins. During the winter they obtain what furs they can. The company do not inform them what kinds are most highly valued, or bring most money, in England. Dr. Rae, the enterprising Arctic explorer, and one of the most energetic of the company's servants, said in evidence before the committee:-"The company's tariff with the Indians is formed in a peculiar way, and necessarily so. The sums given for furs do not coincide with the value of the furs traded for; because the musk-rat, or the less valuable furs, are paid for at a higher [proportionate?] rate. Were the company to pay for the fine furs at the same rate, the Indians would hunt up the finer furs, and destroy them off, as has been done all along the frontier of America; and we should require to reduce the price for the musk-rat and the inferior furs, and the Indians would not hunt them at all. The Indians would never understand our varying the prices of the furs according to the prices here (in England)." The meaning of this is, that the company, by giving a comparatively high price for common furs, realise only a small profit thereon; but they get an enormous profit on the best furs, such as the beaver and the silver fox; and it may be doubted whether their motive is altogether so disinterested as is stated, in concealing the European estimate of furs from the knowledge of the Indians. These Indians would gladly obtain ardent spirits in barter for furs; but the company have wisely forbidden this, except in a few frontier districts, where the company have to compete with the Americans, who entertain no such scruples. The company send out yearly about 60,000l. worth of blankets, cloth, guns, ammunition, knives, and miscellaneous articles; of which about one-third is for the use of the company's servants, and two-thirds for barter with the Indians for furs. Money is never paid for the furs, except near the frontiers, where competition exists. The Indians mostly live upon fish and buffalo; all their other necessaries (and luxuries) they obtain from the company by bartering furs. Beads, needles, thread, and numerous small articles, are kept at the trading posts, not for barter, but as presents to retain the good will of the natives. The company are nursing the northern half of their territories: that is, encouraging the hunters to bring in the cheaper and more plentiful furs, instead of exhausting the stock of those which are scarcer and more valuable; as a consequence, the whole stock and the whole trade have been gradually becoming more valuable between 1840 and 1860. An average beaver-skin is the standard of currency between the company and the hunters; European articles are worth so many "beavers" each. A sort of tariff was agreed upon many years ago, and is only in a slight degree altered, once now and then. The company are virtually the makers of this tariff, for they sedulously keep the Indians in ignorance of the relative values of furs in Europe. Ten musk-rats equal one beaver; so many beavers equal one silverfox; &c. But when we come to compare English goods with Indian furs, the nature of the company's profit peeps out. A blanket equals "four beavers ;" a gun (bought at Birmingham for 22s.) is equal to "twenty beavers; " a slop-made coat is equal to "five or six beavers." A gun, in consideration of the relative high price given for inferior skins, may sell for only 41. or 5l. in musk-rats; but estimated in silverfoxes, it sometimes brings 50l. worth-a startling profit on a cheap Birmingham gun. Beaver fur has varied in price, during the last few years, from 88. to 30s. per lb. in the London market: an average skin yielding about 1 lb. of fur; sc that the company's profits vary greatly, seeing that the Indian tariff does not vary with the London prices. Moreover, it is asserted by the company, as a drawback on their apparently excessive profits, that a period varying from three to seven years elapses before capital can be returned: that is, between the time at which goods are bought in England, and the time at which the furs are sold in England which have been procured by bartering those goods-so extremely slow and tedious are all the operations in the wide-spreading and thinly-inhabited territories of the company. It is undisputed, however, that the company's profits from the fur-trade are quite out of the line of ordinary commercial transactions; and if the statements of many writers on the subject are to be received as correct, the profits are quite enormous. Lieutenant Chappel, some years ago, estimated the profits at 2000 per cent. The Rev. C. G. Nicholay, in his Oregon Territory,' says, "A fourpenny comb will barter for a bear's skin worth 21." Dr. King, in his Arctic Narrative, says, "A coarse knife, worth, all expenses included, no more than sixpence, is bartered for three marten skins, worth in London five guineas; and for the skin of the black sea otter, worth fifty guineas, the natives obtain in exchange only goods to the value of two shillings."

It is believed by competent authorities, that even if the fur-trade

were thrown open, a long time would elapse before the trading of the company would cease to hold its prominence: because of the wide ramifications of their system, and because also of the ties of various kinds which bind the native hunters to them. There are not many furs procured from Vancouver.

Concerning the quantity of furs and skins brought to England, the official returns are not quite clear, seeing that sheep and goat skins are combined in the same entries as those which we are more in the habit of denominating furs. The Hudson's Bay Company, during the last five years, have imported about 700,000 skins annually. Only a small number are sold for consumption in England; the greater part is bought up by foreign merchants, who come to London for that purpose; or rather, they are purchased and partially prepared in England, and then sold to foreigners, especially the merchants of Leipsic. Our total imports from all quarters nearly reach 4,000,000 skins annually, of which 400,000 are racoon and 600,000 seal; the greater portion of the remainder comprises weasel, marten, beaver, neutria, musk-rat, rabbit, and squirrel skins. It is roundly estimated that the retail value of all the furs put to use annually in all parts of the world cannot be much less than 7,000,000l., of which one-third is produced by Russia.

Taking one particular year, 1856, we may usefully, in addition to the number of furs imported, quote the average prices assigned by the importers in computing the real values.

FUSCOBALTIA. [COBALT, ammoniacal compounds of cobalt.] FUSE is a tube filled with a peculiar combustible composition. Fuses are principally used in firing shells. They are made in such a manner, that either by cutting or boring, or adjusting as in the fuse used in Sir W. Armstrong's gun, the length of the composition may be proportioned to the intended range of the shell, so as to burst the shell when it strikes the object, or before if required. The common wooden fuse is made of well-seasoned beech-wood in the form of a slightly tapering cylinder, with an enlargement at the larger end. The cylinder is pierced by a bore of inch in diameter, which terminates in a hemispherical cup in the enlargement. The bore is driven with fuse composition consisting of nitre, 3 lbs. 4 oz.; sulphur, 1 lb.; mealed powder, 1 lb. 12 oz.; which is hammered in hard by the hand, and then burns at the rate of 2 inches per second. The cup is primed with quick match, in order to be easily ignited by the explosion of the shell. The exterior of the wooden cylinder is marked with rings inch apart, so that by sawing off a piece or by boring out the composition from the lower end it can be made of any length required; the fuse is then fixed in the shell by gently hammering it in. For sea service metal fuses are employed. They are made of gun-metal of the same shape as the wooden ones, but are screwed into the shell, which is fitted with a gun-metal collar to receive them. They cannot be cut or bored to any particular length, as it is not considered safe to do so on board ship, but are made of three lengths, 4, 3, and 11⁄2 inches, which burn 20, 74, and 2 seconds. The priming is protected by a metal cap which is unscrewed when required.

The old wooden fuse has been nearly superseded by one invented by Captain Boxer, R. A. a few years ago. The external form is much the same, but the bore is slightly eccentric, and parallel to it; two much smaller bores or channels are made in the thicker side of the wood. These small bores contain quick match, and fine grain powder, which communicate with the fuse composition at the bottom. Small holes •2 inches apart are made from the exterior to the bore containing the

quick match and fine grain powder, and are filled up again with putty. By boring through the putty and the wood between the channel containing the fine grain powder and the fuse composition, these two are put in communication as it were, and when the composition has burned down to that point in the fuse, the flame drives through the hole, lights the The small holes are bored powder and the charge of the shell at once. at 2 of an inch apart, those in one row being opposite the blanks of the next, so that the fuse can be adjusted to tenths of an inch, with much greater ease and precision than with the old fuse. Boxer's fuse also has the advantage of being solid at the end, the bore with composition not running the whole length, hence there is no chance of the composition being driven through by the concussion of the discharge. Sir W. Armstrong, by a very beautiful arrangement, which it would take too long to describe here, has made his fuse so that without removing it from the shell, by turning a dial-marked plate at the top which carries the composition in a circular ring, any portion of this ring is brought opposite a channel of fine grained powder, which communicates with and fires the charge of the shell. FUSEE. [HOROLOGY.]

FUSEL OIL. The oils which contaminate potato and grain spirit are classed by the Germans under the common name fuseloel, and the same term translated is applied by English chemists to these oils. Potato spirit is accompanied by the hydrated oxide of amyl, or oil of potato spirit [AMYL], whilst grain spirit is accompanied by an oily matter consisting of margaric, capric, and œnanthic acids, which probably, with the spirit, form their corresponding ethers. Dr. Gregory suggests that this is probably the composition of the oil of grain, the Oleum siticum of Professor Mulder.

FUSIBLE METAL. An alloy of 5 parts of bismuth, 2 of tin, and 3 of lead, melting about the temperature of boiling water. It is used for stereotype plates, and for the blocks of calico printers. [BISMUTH]. FUSION. The different temperatures at which certain solids are rendered fluid have been already mentioned. [FREEZING POINTS.] In addition it may be merely remarked that fusion is sometimes used with the prefix of watery, and at other times igneous. Watery fusion is that which occurs when a salt, such as sulphate of soda for example, containing much water of crystallisation, fuses or melts in its water by exposure to a moderate heat; it may afterwards undergo igneous fusion by exposure to a much higher temperature.

FUSTIAN is a kind of cotton fabric similar in the mode of manufacture to velvet, having in addition to the warp and weft common to all woven goods, a pile consisting of other threads doubled under the weft, and thrown at intervals so close together that when the goods are finished the interlacing of the warp and weft are concealed by them. [VELVET.] While in the loom the pile forms a series of loops, which are afterwards cut and sheared. The cutting is performed by running a knife through each series of loops as they occur in the weft; this gives an uneven and hairy appearance to the cloth, which is afterwards remedied first by the shearing process, and afterwards by singeing and brushing-which latter operations are repeated until the fustian has acquired a smooth and polished appearance. The shearing of fustians is a separate art, employing many thousand persons in Lancashire. Until lately the operation of fustian-cutting was conducted by hand; but the aid of machinery has now been obtained; and instead of the tedious operation of cutting open only one set of loops at once, a series of knives are brought to act together and continuously, until the whole piece is finished. By this means the work is not only done more quickly, but is also better performed than when its excellence depended upon the uniform precision of the human hand.

Various kinds of fustians are made, and are known by different names, according to their form and fineness. The best kinds are known as cotton velvet and velveteen; besides these there are beaverteens, moleskin, corduroy, and cords. Different patterns are produced by different dispositions of the pile threads. Fustians are woven both in the hand-loom and with the power-loom; they are made of different widths, some pieces being 18 and others 27 inches wide: a piece of velveteen of medium quality, 90 yards long and 18 inches wide, weighs about 24 or 25 lbs. The yarn for the warp is made of New Orleans cotton, or of Upland Georgia and Brazil cotton mixed, of the fineness of 32 hanks to the pound; the weft and pile are usually spun from Upland mixed with East India cotton, and the yarn is commonly of the fineness of 24 hanks to the pound. For further illustrations, see COTTON MANUFACTURE; VELVET; WEAVING.

FUSTIN. The non-azotised yellow colouring matter of fustic. Its composition is not known.

FUTURE. [CONJUGATION; TIME.]

G.

G

This letter is derived from the Latin alphabet, in which it first appears. In the Greek alphabet its place is supplied by zeta. If, as seems probable, the sound of this Greek letter was the same as the consonantal sound at the beginning of the word judge (see Z), it may perhaps be inferred that the hissing sound now given to the letter g existed already in some dialect of ancient Italy. The sound at any rate is familiar to the modern Italian. The sound of the letter g in the English language is two-fold. Before a, o, and u, and occasionally before i and e, it is the medial letter of the guttural order. The other sound, which it possesses only before i and e, is one of the medials of the sibilant series, and is also represented by the letter j as pronounced by the English. [ALPHABET, col. 234.] The sibilant sound is written in Italian by two letters, gi, as Giacomo, Jacob, or by gg, as oggi, to-day. The two-fold nature of the sound corresponds to the double sound of the letter c, which is sometimes a k, sometimes an s. [See C.] The guttural g is liable to many changes in different dialects or languages.

1. g and k are convertible. Thus the Greek and Latin forms genu, yovu; gen, yev, as seen in gen-us, yev-os, gi-g(e)n-o, yɩ-y(e)v-oμai; gnosc, as seen in gnosc-o, y-yvwok-w-severally correspond to the German and English knie, knee: kind, kin.

2. g and an aspirated guttural: as, Greek, xny; German, gans; English, goose and gander. Perhaps xaww may be related to the German gaffen and English gape. There can be no doubt as to the connection between the Greek xoes, the Latin hes-ternus, and the German ges-tern. The close connection of the two sounds may also be seen in the pronunciation of the final g in high German like ch, as Ludwig, &c.

3. and h. As the letter h, when pronounced at all, is only a weak aspirate, this interchange strictly belongs to the last head. As an additional example, we may refer to the Latin word gallus, which has all the appearance of being a diminutive, like bellus, ullus, asellus, from benus, unus, asinus. If this be admitted, the primitive was probably ganus; and we see its corresponding form in the German hahn, a cock. 4. g often disappears: First, at the beginning of a word, as in the Latin anser, a goose, compared with the forms given above, and in the English enough compared with the German genug. A large number of examples of this may be seen in the poetical participles of the English language, commencing with a y, as yclept, yclad, &c.; also in ago for agone; in all of which the fuller form began with ge, as is still seen in German. The loss of g is particularly common before and n, as Eng. like, Germ. gleich; Lat. nosco, nascor, nitor, from gnosco, gnascor, gnitor. Secondly, in the middle of words between vowels. This may be seen in French words derived from the Latin, as: legere, lire, read; magister, maistre, master; Ligeris, Loire, &c.; also in English words connected with German, as nagel, nail; segel, sail; regen, rain, &c. In such cases the vowel is generally lengthened. Lastly, at the end of words, as, sag-en, say: mag, may; tag, day; here again the syllable is strengthened.

5. g and y are convertible; as, yester-day, compared with the Germ. gestern; yawn with gähn-en; yellow with gelb. În our own language we find related words showing this difference: yard and garden; yate, a dialectic variety of gate; yare for gave (Percy's' Reliques,' i. p. 294, note); and yode, a perfect of to go (Glossary of same).

6. g is convertible with gu and w. In the Latin language there coexist the forms tinguo, tingo; unguo, ungo; urgueo, urgeo, &c. In the French language gu is presented to the eye, but g to the ear, in the following: guerre, guêpe, guarder, &c.; while in English we have war, wasp, ward, or guard. Under this head it may be observed, first, that a final w in the English language often corresponds to a guttural in other Teutonic dialects, as saw, raw, crow, row, maw, &c.; secondly, that we often have two letters, ow, where the German has a guttural g, as follow, sorrow, morrow, furrow, gallows, marrow, borrow, barrow.

7. g and b interchangeable. This is generally confined to those cases at the beginning of words, when anr or follows, as in the Eolic forms, γλεφαρον, γλήχων, γαλανος, in place of βλεφαρον, βληχων, βαλανος. Hence the Latin glans. So the Turks have given to Prussia the name of Gharandaberk, that is, Brandenburg. This change of a guttural to a labial is more intelligible, where a syllable originally commencing with such letters as gu or gou has subsequently appended to it a syllable which contains a weak vowel, e or i. By such addition there is produced the vowel assimilation which the Germans call umlaut, but at the same time a small remnant of the original vowel-sound is retained in the form w. Thus gouz-out in Breton is an infinitive signifying to know, connaître. The suffix of the first person of the future is inn, the effect of which is to modify the base gouz, so as to produce the form, gwéz-inn, je connaîtrai, and in a compound, ana-véz-inn, je reconnaitrai. Here the g wholly disappears, and we have in its place a lip letter v. Such a change is of repeated occurrence in Breton: and it is on this account that our example has been taken from this outlying

language. We have, however, an example of a similar influence in English, where good, Germ. gut, on receiving the comparatival suffix er passes through some such form as guetter, and becomes eventually better.

This

8. g and d: as ☎n-μnτnp for yn-unτnp. Examples of this interchange may be heard from the mouth of nearly every child in its first attempts to speak, as Dy Flot for Guy Fawkes, dood boy, do away, &c. change, as in the last case, is common before 1; hence the Latin dulcis by the side of the Greek yλukus.

9. The guttural g and the sibilant g. It was stated in C that the hard sound of that letter in the Western languages of Europe often corresponded to a hissing sound in the Eastern. So too the hard g belongs to Europe, the j sound to Asia. Thus reg, a king, is in the East rajah. 10. The sibilant g and di or bi before a vowel. For examples, see D and B.

GABION. A hollow cylindrical basket open at both ends. They were formerly made of different dimensions, according to the service for which they were to be employed; they are now, however, all made of one size in the British service, namely, 2 feet in diameter (exterior), and 2 feet 9 inches high in the wicker-work They are constructed in the following manner :-A circle of 22 inches in diameter is traced on the ground, each quarter of this circle is divided into 4 or 5 parts, according to the suppleness or stiffness of the withes to be used in wailing this basket work; at each of these points upright pickets 3 feet 6 inches in length are driven. The wicker-work which then follows may be either performed with two rods, called pairing, or with three or more, called wailing; all that is requisite is that each rod should be successively twisted over and outside those before it, passing as many pickets or stakes as there are rods to be waled, before being brought inside. Fresh rods are introduced as fast as each rod used in wailing comes to an end, and they should not be all of one length to terminate together; each layer is hammered down tight on the one preceding. When the wicker-work has risen to the height of 2 feet 9 inches, the whole is stitched together with rope yarn or twisted withes, the gabion pulled up and the pickets cut off and pointed at a length of 3 inches on each side beyond the wickerwork. Gabions are used in the revetment of field works, SAPS, PARAPETS, BATTERIES, &c.; they are then placed on end, the earth from the excavation thrown into them, when they act as a retaining wall to the earth which is thrown over and in front of them. When the height of the parapet requires it, two rows of gabions are placed one over the other, generally with a line of fascines between, the whole being terminated with three rows of fascines placed pyramidally, that is, two as a base and one at top, the revetment having a slope of 3 inches in 2 feet to the front. The weight of a gabion varies much according to the density of the wood from 20 to 40 lbs., and upwards; in fact, like many other points in military art, this requires great forethought. In the West Indies, after gabions had been made of the usual size for the attack of a post, they were found so heavy that it was impossible to carry them.

There is another description of gabion termed sap roller, used in sapping. The sap roller consists of two gabions each 6 feet long, the larger one 4 feet in diameter, the smaller 2 feet 8 inches, both strongly made, fastened together, the smaller inside the larger, and the interval filled with faggots or pickets of strong wood, so as to be musket proof. This is used in pushing on in front of a sap as a mantlet. [SAP.] During the siege of Sebastopol it was found difficult to procure brushwood to make gabions, and Major Elphinstone, R.E., proposed using the iron hay-bands (hoop-iron) employed in packing the compressed hay instead of the withes; these were tried and found of great service, not so liable to be destroyed by the explosion of guns when used in the revetment of embrasures, &c. Since then this idea has been further developed by Captain Tyler, R.E., whose gabion has been adopted to a certain extent in the service. This gabion consists of a plate of thin galvanised iron, which, when required to serve as a gabion, is formed into a cylinder by being sewn together by eyes provided for the purpose at its edges, but which, from lying flat, is easily carried. It is doubtful, however, whether a square gabion of sheet-iron would not answer all purposes better.

GABLE, the triangular upper part of the end wall of a building. corresponding to the sloping sides of the roof which terminates in it. The acuteness of the angle depends therefore on the pitch of the roof, and differs considerably in different examples. Formerly the entire end of the building of which the gable is a part was not uncommonly termed the gable, but it is now more commonly called the gableend. The term gable is not used in classical architecture, the place of the gable being occupied by the pediment. In Elizabethan domestic architecture, the open ornamental terminations of projecting wings, &c. are called gables, though they have no connection with