,
the latter being extensively used both here and abroad.

In the following chapter will be found more detailed notes on the
leading American furs, including their various uses and the different
countries for which they are the especial staples.

In order to give the reader some idea of the variety and magnitude
of the yield of furs from our own country, we annex a table (p.
282) showing the sales of the Hudson's Bay Company, at London,
in the year 1873.

MARKET VALUE OF FUR SKINS.

Below will be found an authentic table of the comparative values
of the various American furs at the present date of publication.
The quotations are those of one of our largest fur dealers, as
published in "THE HAT, CAP AND FUR TRADE REVIEW," the leading journal
of the trade in America. Of course these values are constantly
varying--keeping pace with the eccentricities of fashion and the
demands of the fur trade; but
[Page 282]
the table will serve at least to gauge the relative values, as
between the two extremes of common and scarce furs. The fur market
is a great deal like the stock market. It is constantly fluctuating,
and a fur which is to-day among the novelties, may next year find
itself on the low priced list. The demand for furs of any kind
is nearly always governed by fashion, and of course the value is
estimated on the demand. If the convention of fur dealers should
decide to usher in _Muskrat fur_ as the leading and most fashionable
article in that line, the fashion would create the demand, the
demand would be in turn supplied by the trappers throughout the
country, and in proportion as the Muskrat skins became scarce,
so their value would increase. In this way a skin which may be
worth fifty cents at one time may soon acquire a value of twenty
times that amount. The comparative value of skins is, therefore,
constantly varying more or less; but the annexed table (page 283)
will be found useful for general reference, and for approximate
figures, will probably answer every purpose for some time to come.

==========================================================================
| No. of | No. of | | |Estimated
| Skins. | Skins. | Total | Price according to | average
KINDS. | March | Sept. | No. | quality. |price per
| Sale. | Sale. | | | skin.
------------|---------|---------|---------|----