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.