in commerce, signifies the skin of several wild beasts, dressed in alum with the hair on; and used as a part of dress, by princes, magistrates, and others. The kinds most in use are those of the ermine, sable, caftor, hare, coney, &c. See Mustela.

It was not till the later ages that the furs of beasts became an article of luxury. The more refined nations of ancient times never made use of them: those alone whom the former stigmafied as barbarians were clothed in the skins of animals. Strabo describes the Indians covered with the skins of lions, panthers, and bears; and Seneca, the Scythians clothed with the skins of foxes and the lesser quadrupeds. Virgil exhibits a picture of the savage Hyperboreans, similar to that which our late circumnavigators can witness to in the clothing of the wild Americans, unseen before by any polished people.

Most part of Europe was at this time in similar circumstances. Caesar might be as much amazed with the skin-dressed heroes of Britain, as our celebrated Cook was at those of his new-discovered regions. What time hath done to us, time, under humane conquerors, may effect for them. Civilization may take place; and those spoils of animals, which are at present essential for clothing, become the mere objects of ornament and luxury.

It does not appear that the Greeks or old Romans ever made use of furs. It originated in those regions where they most abounded, and where the severity of the climate required that species of clothing. At first it consisted of the skins only, almost in the state in which they were torn from the body of the beast; but as soon as civilization took place, and manufactures were introduced, furs became the lining of the dress, and often the elegant facing of the robes. It is probable that the northern conquerors introduced the fashion into Europe. We find, that about the year 522, when Totila king of the Visigoths reigned in Italy, the Suethons (a people of modern Sweden) found means, by help of the commerce of numberless intervening people, to transmit, for the use of the Romans, saphilinas peller, the precious skins of the fables. As luxury advanced, furs, even of the most valuable species, were used by princes as linings for their tents: thus Marco Polo, in 1252, found those of the Cham of Tartary lined with ermines and sables. He calls the last Zibelines and Zambolines. He says that those and other precious furs were brought from countries far north; from the land of Darkness, and regions almost inaccessible by reason of morasses and ice. The Welsh set a high value on furs as early as the time of Howell Dda, who began his reign about 940. In the next age, furs became the fashionable magnificence of Europe. When Godfrey of Boulogne and his followers appeared before the emperor Alexis Comnene, on their way to the Holy Land, he was struck with the richness of their dresses, tam ex offro quam aurifrigio et niveo operé barmelino et ex mardrino grifisque et vario. How different was the advance of luxury in France from the time of their great monarch Charlemagne, who contented himself with the plain fur of the otter! Our Henry I. wore furs; yet in his distress was obliged to change them for warm Welsh flannel. But in the year 1337 the luxury had got to such a head, that Edward III. enacted, that all persons who could not spend a hundred a-year should absolutely be prohibited the use of this species of finery. These, from their great expense, must have been foreign furs, obtained from the Italian commercial states, whose traffic was at this period boundless. How strange is the revolution in the fur-trade! The north of Asia at that time supplied us with every valuable kind; at present we send, by means of the possession of Hudson's Bay, furs, to immense amount, even to Turkey and the distant China.

New Voyages in Search of Furs. During the late Captain Cook's last voyage to the Pacific Ocean, besides the various scientific advantages to be derived from it, a new source of wealth was laid open to future navigators, by trading for furs of the most valuable kind on the north-west coast of America. The first vessel which engaged in the new branch of trade pointed out by that great navigator, was equipped by some gentlemen in China. She was a brig of 60 tons and 20 men, commanded by James Hanna. She sailed from the Typha the end of April 1785; proceeded to the northward, along the coast of China; passed through Diemen's Straits, the south end of Japan; and arrived at Nootka in August following. Soon after her arrival, the natives, whom Captain Cook had left unacquainted with the effects of fire-arms, tempted probably by the diminutive size of the vessel (farce longer than some of their own canoes) and the small number of her people, attempted to board her in open day; but were repelled with considerable slaughter. This was the introduction to a firm and lasting friendship. Captain Hanna cured such of the Indians as were wounded; an unrestrained confidence took place; they traded fairly and peaceably; a valuable cargo of furs was procured; and the bad weather setting in, he left the coast in the end of September, touched at the Sandwich Islands, and arrived at Macao the end of December of the same year.

Captain Hanna sailed again from Macao in May 1786, in the snow Sea-Otter of 120 tons and 30 men, and returned to Macao in February 1787. In this second voyage he followed his former track, and arrived at Nootka in August; traced the coast from thence as far as 53 degrees, and explored the extensive sound discovered a short time before by Mr Strange. and called by him Queen Charlotte's Sound, the latitude of which is 51 degrees north, longitude 128 west.

The snow Lark, Captain Peters, of 220 tons and 40 men, sailed from Macao in July 1786. Her destination was Kamchatka (for which she was provided with a suitable cargo of arrack, tea, &c.), Copper Islands, and the N.W. coast. Captain Peters was directed to make his passage between Japan and Corea, and examine the islands to the north of Japan, said to be inhabited by hairy people; which, if Captain Cook had lived, would not have been left to the French to determine. No account having been received of this vessel since her departure, there is every reason to fear she has perished.

In the beginning of 1786, two coppered vessels were fitted out at Bombay, under the direction of James Strange, Esq., who was himself a principal owner. These vessels were, the snow Captain Cook of 300 tons, and snow Experiment of 100 tons. They proceeded in company from the Malabar coast to Batavia; passed through the Straits of Macassar, where the Experiment was run upon a reef, and was obliged to haul ahore upon Borneo to repair; from thence they steered to the eastward of the Palaos Islands; made Sulphur Island; and arrived at Nootka the end of June following. From Nootka, where they left their surgeon's mate (Mackay) to learn the language and collect skins against their intended return (but who was brought away in the Imperial Eagle the following year), they proceeded along the coast to Queen Charlotte's Sound, of which they were the first discoverers; from thence in a direct course to Prince William's Sound. After some stay there, the Experiment proceeded to Macao (their vessels being provided with passes by the governor-general of Goa): the Captain Cook endeavoured to get to Copper Island, but without success, being prevented by constant west winds.

Two coppered vessels were also fitted out by a society of gentlemen in Bengal, viz., the snow Nootka of 200 tons, and the snow Sea Otter of 100 tons, commanded by John Mearns and William Tipping, lieutenants in the royal navy. The Nootka sailed in March 1786 from Bengal; came through the China Seas; touched at the Bafines, where they were very civilly treated by the Spaniards, who have taken possession of these islands; arrived at Oonalaska the beginning of August; found there a Russian galliot and some furriers; discovered accidentally near Cape Greville a new strait into Cook's River, 15 leagues wide and 30 long; saw some Russian hunters in a small bay between Cape Elizabeth and Cape Bear; and arrived in Prince William's Sound the end of September. They determined wintering in Snug Corner Cove, lat. 60° 30' in preference to going to the Sandwich Islands, which seem placed by Providence for the comfort and refreshment of the adventurers in this trade, and were frozen up in this gloomy and frightful spot from the end of November to the end of May. By the severity of the winter they lost their third and fourth mates, surgeon, boatswain, carpenter, and cooper, and twelve of the foremast men; and the remainder were so enfeebled as to be under the necessity of applying to the commanders of the King George and Queen Charlotte, who just at this time arrived in the sound, for some hands to assist in carrying the vessel to the Sandwich Islands, where, giving over all further thoughts of trade, they determined (after getting a sea-fock of fish off Cape Edgcumbe) immediately to proceed. The Nootka arrived at Macao the end of October 1787.

The Imperial Eagle, Captain Barkley, fitted out by a society of gentlemen at Ostend, sailed from Ostend the latter end of November 1786; went into the bay of All Saints; from thence, without touching anywhere, to the Sandwich Islands, and arrived at Nootka the beginning of June; from thence to the south, as far as 47° 30', in which space he discovered some good and spacious harbours. In the lat. of 47° 46', lost his second mate, purser, and two seamen, who were upon a trading party with the long-boat, and imprudently trusting themselves ashore unarmed, were cut off by the natives. This place seems to be the same that Don Antonio Mourelle calls the Ilha de los Dolores, where the Spaniards going ashore to water, were also attacked and cut off.

The King George of 320, and the Queen Charlotte of 200 tons, commanded by Captains Portlock and Dixon, who served under Captain Cook in his last voyage, were fitted out by a society of gentlemen in England, who obtained a privilege to trade to the north-west coast of America, from the South-Sea and East India companies.

These vessels sailed from England the beginning of September 1785; touched at the Falkland Islands, Sandwich Islands, and arrived in Cook's River in the month of August. From thence, after collecting a few furs, they steered in the end of September for Prince William's Sound, intending, it is said, to winter there; but were prevented entering, by heavy storms and extreme bad weather, which obliged them to bear away, and seek some other part of the coast to winter at. The storms and bad weather accompanied them till they arrived off Nootka Sound, when they were so near the shore, that a canoe came off to them; but though thus near accomplishing their purpose, a fresh storm came on, and obliged them finally to bear away for the Sandwich Islands, where they remained the winter months; and returning again to the coast, arrived in Prince William's Sound the middle of May. The King George remained in Prince William's Sound; and during her stay, her long-boat discovered a new passage from the Sound into Cook's River. The Queen Charlotte proceeded along the coast to the south; looked into Behring's Bay, where the Russians have now a settlement; examined that part of the coast from 56° to 50°, which was not seen by Captain Cook, and which consists of a cluster of islands, called by Captain Dixon Queen Charlotte's Islands, at a considerable distance from the Main, which is thus removed farther to the eastward than it was supposed to be: some part of the continent may, however, be seen from the east side of these islands; and it is probable, the distance does not any where exceed 50 leagues. On this estimation, Hudson's Hope, lat. 53° long. 106° 27' west, will not be more than 800 miles distant from that part of this coast in the same parallel. It is therefore not improbable, that the enterprising spirit of our Canadian furriers may penetrate to this coast (the communication with which is probably much facilitated by lakes or rivers), and add to the comforts and luxuries... ries of Europe this invaluable furr, which in warmth, beauty, and magnificence, far exceeds the richest furs of Siberia. Queen Charlotte's islands are inhabited by a race of people differing in language, features, and manners, from all the other tribes of this coast. Among other peculiarities, they are distinguished by a large incision in the under lip, in which is inserted a piece of polished wood, sometimes ornamented with mother-of-pearl shell, in shape and size like a weaver's shuttle, which undoubtedly is the most effectual mode of deforming the human face divine that the ingenious depravity of taste of any savage nation has yet discovered. These ships, after disposing of their furs in China, were loaded with teas on account of the English company, sailed from Wampoa the end of February, and arrived in England a short time since, after an absence of three years.

The year after the departure of the King George and Queen Charlotte, the same society to which they belonged fitted out two other vessels, viz., the Prince Royal of 60 tons, and the Prince of Wales of 200 tons, commanded by Captains Colnet and Duncan, the former of whom had served under Captain Cook. These vessels left England in August 1786; touched at New Year's harbour on Staten Land, where they left an officer and 12 men to kill seals against the arrival of a vessel which was to follow them from England; from thence they proceeded directly to Nootka, where they arrived the 6th of July, sickly and in bad condition, and found here the Imperial Eagle, which had left Europe some months after them. Leaving Nootka, they steered along the shore to the northward, and soon after fell in with the Queen Charlotte.

In the beginning of 1788, Captain Mears sailed again with two other vessels, the Felice, which he commanded himself, and the Iphigenia, Captain Douglas, to Nootka Sound. Here he purchased of the chief of the district a spot, on which he built a house for his residence and more convenient intercourse with the natives, hoisting the British colours thereon, surrounding it with a breast-work, and mounting a three-pounder on the front. Having so done, he sent Mr Douglas in the Iphigenia to trade along the northern coast, while he himself proceeded to the south; and by presents to the chiefs obtained the ports Cox and Effingham, and the promise of an exclusive trade with the natives of the district, and also some other places, which he took possession of in the name of the king. Captain Douglas likewise, by presents to the chiefs of the countries he visited, obtained similar privileges, no other European vessel having sailed there before him.

On their return to Nootka, they found a vessel finished which the commander had laid down before his departure. This, which he named the North-west America, he left at Nootka with the Iphigenia, while he sailed with a cargo of furs in the Felice to China.

A few days after his arrival at China, two vessels, the Prince of Wales and Prince Royal, came to Canton from their trading voyage above mentioned. Captain Mears, fearing a competition of interests might be injurious to both parties, proposed a copartnership, which was mutually agreed to; and another ship was purchased by the firm, and called the Argonaut. In the month of April 1789, Captain Mears gave Mr Colnet the command of the Prince Royal and Argonaut, which were loaded with stores and articles estimated sufficient for three years trade, besides several artificers, and near 70 Chinese, who intended to become settlers on the north-west coast of America, under protection of the new company.

In the mean while, the Iphigenia, and North-west America (the vessel built at Nootka) having wintered in Sandwich Islands, returned to Nootka in the latter end of April. Soon after which, two Spanish ships of war, under the command of Don Martinez, anchored in the sound. For a few days mutual civilities passed between the Spanish captain and Mr Douglas; but at the end of about a week, Don Martinez summoned the latter on board his own ship the Princessa, telling him he was his prisoner, and that the king of Spain had commanded him, Don Martinez, to seize all vessels he should find on that coast. He therefore instructed his officers to take possession of the Iphigenia, which they accordingly did in the name of his Catholic majesty; and the officers and crew were conveyed as prisoners on board the Spanish ships, where they were put in irons, and otherwise ill treated. Immediately after this, Don Martinez took possession of the little settlement, hoisting the standard of Spain, and modestly declaring all the lands from Cape Horn to 60 degrees north latitude belonged to his master. To aggravate the insult, he forcibly employed the crew of the Iphigenia in building batteries, &c., and offered no kind of violence to two American vessels that were at the same time in the harbour. At this time the North-west America was sent to explore the Archipelago of St Lazarus. On her return to Nootka she met with a similar treatment, and the skins she had collected were seized, with the rest of her cargo.

A few days after the Prince Royal (which we have mentioned as leaving Canton in company with the Argonaut) arrived. The Spanish commander, for reasons that do not appear, suffered her to depart. The skins collected by the North-west America were shipped on board her for the benefit of her owner, and she proceeded to trade in the neighbouring isles. On the 3rd of July, the Argonaut arrived at the Sound; and Don Martinez, after making every profession of civility to Mr Colnet the commander, took possession of the said ship in the name of his master, and made prisoners of the crew. Soon after, the Prince Royal returning to receive instructions from Mr Colnet, director of the Enterprize, was seized by the Spanish captain.

The crews of the British vessels were differently disposed of; some sent to China by the American vessels, and others to Spanish America; but the Chinese were all detained, and employed in the mines which were opened on the lands purchased by Captain Mears. What these mines consisted of we are nowhere informed. Mr Colnet was so much affected at the failure of the enterprise as to be deprived of reason.

This, as soon as known, occasioned a spirited representation from the British court to that of Spain; at the same time that vigorous preparations were made for war in case adequate satisfaction should be refused. Matters, however, were prevented from coming to extremities, by a compliance on the part of Spain, after many delays and much artifice of negociation, with the requisitions of Britain; in consequence of which, among other advantages unnecessary to be here recited, the whole trade from California to China is completely laid open; and the British allowed the full exercise of navigation and commerce in those parts of the world which were the subject of discussion.

In some accounts of the voyages above mentioned, the fur-trade in those parts have been greatly magnified. In that published by Captain Portlock, however, this officer observes, that the gains hitherto have certainly not been 'enviably' great; though the merchants have no doubt found the trade lucrative.