THE HUNTER.
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.
