THE FUR SEASON.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLVI, Issue XLVI, 25 April 1914, Page 12

THE FUR SEASON.

at'tlT 1/ 6 T ilHon ?kins are being sold at the London spring fur sales '' a recent cable message. <<Thev\eE eighteen thousand Russian y sable skins" came to London, and if the Russian Government enforces tie law of protection for sables, thes* skiA will become scarcer than ever W when fashion has declared a sStsoiTof tur. The supply of Russian sable has its iniquitous aspect, however since it depends chiefly on the activity of nC- an v, POaC!: erfi- Nmv th* Canadian trade is honest and above-board, and dred SlinS r ff°? Bkm ? M for fonr'hSi. ttthU f ? rtJ pOU,nds means th« prol- be end of a hunting ent«rr>rise which has benefited all cSncerned-el-ceptmg the original owner of the <<<W TT¥ H f Udr^ n'6 Ba * Company! Our Lady of Lime Street," as the : company » called, from the'headquariters being in Lime street, London, has discovered the best possible career for the poor Indian. A hunter by instinct ne has been developed, under exnert guidance and control, into thefurS er T f r "oat of the civilised world. The company gives credit to the Indians that they may start out well provided for the winter task If it happens to be a poor fur year the loss may be great. As the factor of one iar north post expressed it. "I've got twelve thousand pounds' worth of fur travelling around on four leas with only the security of- Indian word th^H b'r If *an IndiP is iniured' \ *1-13-^- performs the duties of ambulance and field hospital. His amusement is provided for at the stations where he comes in to trade; and his-winter hardships are forgotten while he looks upon moving pictures and hears the gramophone. When I Andree went on his fatal balloon expedition to the Pole, the Indian trappers were kindly warned, beforehand, that it anyone came down unon them rrom the sky he would not b© an alarming "windigo" (devil), but just an ordinary little man. In return the Indians deal faithfully with the ±1.J3.U. Une man in charge of a post could neither read nor write. He kept books by means of sign-drawing—one hieroglyphic meaning tea. another lard, etc.—and "Our Lady of Lime street received through him during one year bales of fur representing eomethmz like £15;000, with accounts straight to a penny. Catchers of silver io^ t re Proud men- Drawing at least half the good price paid by the company, the successful hunter proceeds to riot m a gramaphone of his own, or perhaps, more wisely, invests in a, canoe. Some new possession, at any rate, must advertise his luck, while the skm takes its place in those precious bales that run the rapids, a quarterinch of bass-wood between the river and £20,000 worth of furs, on their Y&y : via trapper, trader, company, furrier, and show-room, to make European beauty more beautiful than ever. In the primitive north, the red man's squaw hauls the toboggan while her hunter makes the round of his traps. At the other extreme of the enterprise, according to one clever essayist, "A wintry landscape, with a fairish woman in her furs, is civilisation's masterpiece."