1. Hunting and fishing are usually considered the primary occupations
of man; not because they were the first employments in which he
engaged, but because they are the chief means of human sustenance
among savage nations.
2. The great and rapid increase of the inferior animals, and,
probably, the diminished fertility of the soil after the deluge,
caused many branches of the family of Noah to forsake the arts of
civilized life, especially after the dispersion caused by the
confusion of tongues.
3. Many of these families, or tribes, continued in this barbarous
state for several ages, or until their increase of numbers, and the
diminished quantity of wild game, rendered a supply of food from the
objects of the chase extremely precarious. Necessity then compelled
them to resort to the domestication of certain animals, and to the
cultivation of the soil. But the practice of hunting wild animals is
not confined to the savage state; as it is an amusement prompted by a
propensity inherent in human nature.
4. The earliest historical notice of this sport is found in the tenth
chapter of Genesis, in which Nimrod is styled, "a mighty hunter before
the Lord." So great was his prowess in this absorbing pursuit, that he
was proverbially celebrated on this account even in the time of Moses.
Nimrod is the first king of whom we read in history; and it is by no
means improbable, that his skill and intrepidity in subduing the wild
beasts of the forest, contributed largely towards elevating him to the
regal station.
5. Although the spoils of the chase are of little consequence to men,
after they have united in regular communities, in which the arts of
civilized life are cultivated; yet the propensity to hunt wild animals
continues, and displays itself more or less among all classes of men.
6. The reader of English history will recollect, that William the
Conqueror, who began his reign in the year 1066, signalized his
passion for this amusement, by laying waste, and converting, into one
vast hunting-ground, the entire county of Hampshire, containing, at
that time, no less than twenty-two populous parishes. Severe laws were
also enacted, prohibiting the destruction of certain kinds of game,
except by a few persons having specified qualifications. With some
modifications, these laws are still in force in Great Britain.
7. In other countries of Europe, also, large tracts have been
appropriated by the kings and nobles to the same object. This
tyrannical monopoly is attempted to be justified by the unreasonable
pretension, that all wild animals belong, of right, to the monarch of
the country, where they roam.
8. The quadrupeds most hunted in Europe, are the stag, the hare, the
fox, the wolf, and the wild boar. These beasts are pursued either on
account of their intrinsic value, or for sport, or to rid the country
of their depredations. In some instances, all three of these objects
may be united. The method of capturing or killing the animals is
various, according to the character and objects of the persons engaged
in it.
9. In Asia, the wolf is sometimes hunted with the eagle; but, in
Europe, the strongest greyhounds are employed to run him down. This
task, however, is one of extreme difficulty, as he can easily run
twenty miles upon a stretch, and is besides very cunning in the means
of eluding his pursuers. Chasing the fox on horseback, with a pack of
hounds, is considered an animating and manly sport, both in Europe and
in North America.
10. The most prominent victim of the hunter, in Africa, is the lion.
He is usually sought in small parties on horseback with dogs; but
sometimes, when one of these formidable animals has been discovered,
the people of the neighborhood assemble, and encircle him in a ring,
three or four miles in circumference. The circle is gradually
contracted, until the hunters have approached sufficiently near to the
beast, when they dispatch him, usually with a musket-ball.
11. In the southern parts of Asia, tiger-hunting is a favorite
amusement. Seated upon an elephant, trained especially for the
purpose, the hunter is in comparative safety, while he pursues and
fires upon the tiger, until his destruction is effected.
12. The white bear and the grisly bear are the most formidable animals
in North America; yet they are industriously hunted by both Indians
and white men, on account of the value of their flesh and skins.
Bisons, or, as they are erroneously called, buffaloes, are found in
great numbers in the vast prairies which occur between the Mississippi
and the Rocky Mountains. They are commonly met with in droves, which
sometimes amount to several thousands.
13. When the Indian hunters propose to destroy these animals, they
ride into the midst of a herd, and dispatch them with repeated wounds;
or, they get a drove between themselves and a precipice, and, by
shouting and yelling, cause the animals to crowd each other off upon
the rocks below. In this manner, great numbers are disabled and taken
at once. The hunters, at other times, drive the bisons into
inclosures, and then shoot them down at their leisure. The hide of
this animal is dressed with the hair adhering to it; and skins, in
this state, are used by the savages for beds, and by the white people,
in wagons, sleighs, and stages.
14. North America, and the northern parts of Asia, have been, and, in
some parts, still are, well stocked with fur-clad animals; and these
are the principal objects of pursuit, with those who make hunting
their regular business. Some of these animals were common in every
part of North America, when this portion of the western continent was
first visited by Europeans; and a trade in peltries, more or less
extensive, has been carried on with the natives, ever since the first
settlement of the country.
15. For the purpose of conducting this trade with advantage, a company
was formed in England, in 1670, by Prince Rupert and others, to whom a
charter was granted, securing to them the exclusive privilege of
trading with the Indians about Hudson's Bay. Another company was
formed in 1783-4, called the North-West Fur Company. Between these
companies, there soon arose dissensions and hostilities, and many
injuries were mutually inflicted by the adherents of the parties. Both
associations, however, were at length united, under the title of the
Hudson's Bay Fur Company. The Indian trade, on the great lakes and the
Upper Mississippi, has long been in possession of the North American
Fur Company. Most of the directors of this company reside in the city
of New-York.
16. The companies just mentioned supply the Indians with coarse blue,
red, and fine scarlet cloths, coarse cottons, blankets, ribands,
beads, kettles, firearms, hatchets, knives, ammunition, and other
articles adapted to the wants of the hunters, receiving, in return,
the skins of the muskrat, beaver, otter, martin, bear, deer, lynx,
fox, &c.
17. The intercourse with the Indians is managed by agents, called
clerks, who receive from the company a salary, ranging from three to
eight hundred dollars per annum. The merchandise is conveyed to the
place of trade, in the autumn, by the aid of Canadian boatmen and
half-Indians. The most considerable portion of the goods are sold to
the Indians on a credit, with the understanding of their making
payment in the following spring; but, as many neglect this duty, a
high price is affixed to the articles thus intrusted to savage
honesty. The clerk furnishes the debtor with a trap, having his own
name stamped upon it, to show that the hunter has pledged every thing
which may be caught in it.
18. Each clerk is supplied with four laborers and an interpreter. The
latter attends to the store in the absence of the clerk, or watches
the debtors in the Indian camp, lest they again sell the produce of
their winter's labors. The peltries, when obtained by the clerk, are
sent to the general agent of the company.
19. The fur trade is also prosecuted, to some extent, by a class of
men in Missouri, who proceed from the city of St. Louis, in bodies
comprising from fifty to two hundred individuals. After having
ascended the Missouri river, or some of its branches, and, perhaps,
after having passed the Rocky Mountains, they separate, and pursue the
different animals on their own individual account, either alone or in
small parties. The Indians regard these men as intruders on their
territories; and, when a favorable opportunity is presented, they
frequently surprise and murder the wandering hunters, and retain
possession of their property.
20. In consequence of the unremitted warfare which has, for a long
time, been carried on against the wild animals of North America, their
number has been greatly diminished; and, in many parts, almost every
species of the larger quadrupeds, and the fur-clad animals, has been
exterminated. Even on the Mississippi, and the great lakes, the latter
description of animals has been so much reduced in number, that the
trade in peltries, in those parts, has become of little value. Another
half century will, probably, nearly terminate the trade in every part
of North America.
21. The fur trade was prosecuted with considerable success, during the
latter part of the last century, principally by the English, on the
north-west coast of America, and the adjacent islands. The peltries
obtained by these enterprising traders, were carried directly to
China. The trade was interrupted for a while by the Spaniards, who
laid claim to those regions, and seized the British traders engaged
there, together with the property in their possession. This affair,
however, was afterwards amicably adjusted by the Spanish and English
governments; and the whole trade, from California north and to China,
was opened to the latter.
22. The fur trade, in those parts, is now chiefly in the hands of the
Russian Company in America, which has a capital of a million of
dollars invested in the business. Most of the persons owning the
stock, are merchants, residing at Irkutsk, a town of Siberia, which is
the centre of the fur trade of that country. The skins obtained in
Russian America are chiefly procured from the sea-otter, and several
species of seal, together with those from foxes, of a blue, black, and
gray color, which are brought from the interior. Parties of Russian
hunters have already passed the Rocky Mountains, and interfered with
the trade of the Hudson's Bay Company. The fur trade of Siberia is
chiefly carried on with China.
23. The chief objects of the hunters in Siberia, are the black fox,
the sable, the ermine, the squirrel, the beaver, and the lynx. In the
region near the Frozen Ocean, are also caught blue and white foxes.
Siberia is the place of banishment for the Russian empire; and the
exiles were formerly required to pay to the government an annual
tribute of a certain number of sable-skins. The conquered tribes in
Siberia, were also compelled to pay their taxes in the skins of the
fox and sable; but now, those of less value, or money, are frequently
substituted.
24. Although the skins of beasts were the first means employed to
clothe the human body, yet it does not appear that the Greeks and
Romans, and the other refined nations of antiquity, ever made use of
furs for this purpose. The custom of wearing them, originated in those
regions, where the fur-clad animals were numerous, and where the
severity of the climate required this species of clothing. The use of
furs was introduced into the southern parts of Europe by the Goths,
Vandals, Huns, and other barbarous nations, which overran the Roman
empire.
[Illustration: WHALER.]