[252] Jefferson's messages of January 18, 1803, and February 19, 1806. See Amer. State Papers, Ind. Affs., I., 684.
[253] See Adams, Maryland's Influence upon Land Cessions to U.S., J.H.U. Studies, 3d Series, No. I., pp. 80-82.
[254] Ibid. Vide ante, p. 41.
[255] Narr. and Crit. Hist. Amer., VIII., 10. Compare Adams, as above. At Jefferson's desire, in January and February of 1788, Washington wrote various letters inquiring as to the feasibility of a canal between Lake Erie and the Ohio, "whereby the fur and peltry of the upper country can be transported"; saying: "Could a channel once be opened to convey the fur and peltry from the Lakes into the eastern country, its advantages would be so obvious as to induce an opinion that it would in a short time become the channel of conveyance for much the greater part of the commodities brought from thence." Sparks, Washington's Works, IX., 303, 327.
[256] Wis. Hist. Colls., XI., 230.
[257] Cong. Rec., XXIII., 57. I found this interesting confirmation of my views after this paper was written. Compare Harper's Magazine, Sept. 1890, p. 565.
[258] The traffic in furs in the Middle Ages was enormous, says Friedlander, Sittengeschichte, III., 62. Numerous cities in England and on the Continent, whose names are derived from the word "beaver" and whose seals bear the beaver, testify to the former importance in Europe of this animal; see Canadian Journal, 1859, 359. See Du Chaillu, Viking Age, 209-10; Marco Polo, bk. iv., ch. xxi. "Wattenbach, in Historische Zeitschrift, IX., 391, shows that German traders were known in the lands about the Baltic at least as early as the knights.