Fur is Nature"s covering for the animals which inhabit the colder regions of the world, and the more rigorous the climate, the more beautiful the fur-skins which it produces. Man, even in his primitive state, soon learned to set a high value on these skins as a clothing for himself, and in process of time he discovered a means of so dressing them as to prevent them from rotting, or the hair from falling off.
The inhabitants of very cold countries dress themselves today entirely in fur, or line their other clothing with it. We regard fur, because of its costliness, as a luxury for winter ornament; only the wealthy part of the community can afford to look upon it as a necessary article of clothing.
The fur-bearing animals include members of both the Carnivora and the Rodentia. The vast majority of them are wild animals, which are hunted and trapped in the most solitary regions of the earth, remote from the haunts of man. Their skins yield many varieties of fur,from the simple rabbit-skins worth two or three pence, to valuable furs which have been known to realise as much as?100 each.
Among the most beautiful and costly of these furs are the skins of the fox, racoon, bear, badger, wolverine, skunk, polecat, marten, stoat, mink, otter, and seal. Many varieties of foxes are killed every year for the sake of their fur, and all of them are highly prized.
Silver-fox is a rich, soft, handsome skin of thick dark fur, with long silvery- white overhair. A single skin will sometimes fetch as much as ?20. Black- fox, another variety, isone of the most valuable furs which the world produces. It is rarely met with now, and consequently is even moreexpensive still; the price asked for a single skin frequently being no less than ?40. The red-fox, grey-fox, kitt-fox, cross-fox, and Arctic fox are among the other varieties. The last named animal changes color in winter from adark gray to pure white, and in this condition the skin is takes and prepared for the market. Most of the polar animals are more or less liable to this change.
The skin of the racoon furnishes a handsome grayish- red fur, much used in Germany and Russia as an inside lining for travelling coats.
Bears are found in many parts of the world, although their numbers are slowly and surely thinning beforethe steady march of settlement and civilization both in Europe and North America. Their skins all afford thick handsome furs. The black, brown, and grizzly bears belong to the forest and mountain regions, the last named being a powerful and ferocious beast peculiar to the Rocky Mountains. The polar bear is a sea animal; it inhabits the floating masses of ice, in the frozen seas of both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
The American badger has a very soft, fine fur, fully 3.5 inches long. It is of a dark purplish-brown color, tippedwith white, and mottled with black rings here and there. The fur of the European badger is coarser ; it is mostly used for artists" brushes.
The wolverine, or glutton, is about the size of the badger. It has a soft, close, fur coat about an inch thick, with stiff overhairs fully 4 inches in length. It is much in request for muffs and victorines.
The skunk, or American polecat, has a long, soft, rich black fur, which for ladies" apparel rivals many of the higher priced furs. During its life-time this animal hasthe power of emitting a most offensive fluid from a small bag near the root of the tail.
