IRLF
FURS
AND
FUR
GARMENTS
o
CO
LO
RICHARD
DAVEY
THE LIBRARY
OF
THE UNIVERSITY
OF CALIFORNIA
PRESENTED BY
PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND
MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID
FURS
AND
FUR GARMENTS
THIS WORK, AND ALL THE PUBLICATIONS OF THE
ROXBURGHE PRESS ARE SUPPLIED TO THE TRADE BY
MESSRS. SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO.,
LIMITED, AND CAN BE OBTAINED THROUGH ANY
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Frontispiece.
HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA.
FURS AND FUR GARMENTS
BY
RICHARD DAVEY
LONDON
THE INTERNATIONAL FUR STORE
163 AND 198, REGENT STREET, W.,
AND
THE ROXBURGHE PRESS
3, Victoria Street
Westminster
HTHE NATURAL, HISTORICAL, COMMERCIAL AND
STATISTICAL PORTION OF THIS WORK IS KINDLY
SUPPLIED AND EDITED BY MR. T. S. JAY, F.Z.S.,
MANAGER OF THE INTERNATIONAL FUR STORE,
163 AND 198, REGENT STREET, LONDON, W.
THE PRIAMUS MONKEY
(Semnopithecus Priamiis.}
To face Contents page.
5/OC/
) 38
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
Origin of the use of fur in costume Mentioned in Scrip-
ture Its great antiquity The red dye Dyed rams
The Bairam ram Byzantine and Venetian ladies A
red terrier The legend of the Golden Fleece Medea
The Amazons I
CHAPTER II
The Assyrians Semiramis and her 8,000 tiger skins Per-
sian hats The antiquity of the fur trade in China and
Japan Nero Rugs in antiquity The Goths and Ostro-
goths The Scythians The clergy and the sumptuary
laws ........... 9
CHAPTER III
Anecdote of Charlemagne The fur trade in Byzantium
The fur markets of Constantinople The Turks and
their fur garments A phenomenally cold winter Galla
Placida and her State robe Justinian The Kakarye
Jame The Italian Pellicerie Ermine St. John Chrysos-
tom The costumes of the Grand Viziers Murad II.
The tandour . . . ... . . . -15
CHAPTER IV
The Venetians and the Turks Nurnberg- Venetian ladies
and their furs Progress of the fur trade in Italy Lucrezia
Borgia Her wedding dress Caterina Cornaro . . .23
VI CONTENTS
CHAPTER V
PAGE
Vair Cinderella's slipper Planche The Miniver: its
history Used as a royal fur St. Bernard preaches
against extravagance in furs Miniver in ecclesiastical
costume The Canons of the Lateran Nuns Edward III.
limits the use of ermine to the royal family . . -29
CHAPTER VI
Philip the Long St. Louis Edward III. The ermine in
England Eleanor of Provence Philippa of Hainault
Fur in Germany Mus The royal crown . ... -35
CHAPTER VII
The "Golden Book of St. Alban's Abbey" King John
Elizabeth Woodville Anne of Warwick Elizabeth of
York A masque under Henry VIII. Princess Mary's
tiger-skin jacket ......... 39
CHAPTER VIII
Furs in Scotland Margaret Tudor's furs Madaleine
de Valois Mary Stuart Trophies of stuffed animals
at Holyrood Anne Boleyn's nightgowns Catherine
Howard sends a present of furs to the old Countess of
Salisbury Edward VI. 's "mangey" coat Anne of
Cleves Jane Seymour Mary Tudor . . . -45
CHAPTER IX
Elizabeth Charles I. Fur in art Decline of the trade
Its revival The boas and the muffs of our grandmothers 53
CONTENTS Vll
CHAPTER X
PAGE
The fur trade in history The Hudson Bay Company
Astor The Rocky Mountain Fur Company Pierre
Chouteau Martin and Francis Bates Statistics . . 59
CHAPTER XI
The sable and its history The great fair of Nishni Nov-
gorod The Russian sable The weasel tribe The skunk
The chinchilla The musk rat The fox Bearskins . 69
CHAPTER XII
The raccoon Astrachan Sea otter The Thibet and
Mongol lamb Wolverine The platypus . . " . . 85
CHAPTER XIII
The seal : its history Its importance in trade Alaska
The method of capturing seals The process of pre-
paring them Furs in houses as decoration Sarah
Bernhardt and her lion's skin . . ' < . . -93
Index . j. ,..-" . : .'-" ; ; V % ' . ,'.- . 104
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Her Majesty Queen Victoria .. . ^. . Frontispiece
A Byzantine Lady . . . . . . to face page 5
A Nobleman of the Sixteenth Century . '. ,, ,, 31
Henry VII 41
Henry VIII . 49
Isabeau of Bavaria . . . . .. ,, 25
Jean Sans Peur . . . . . ,, ,, 37
Josephine, Empress of the French . . . ,, 57
Mary Tudor . ,, 55
St. John Chrysostom . . . . ,, ,, 19
The Constable de Bourbon (after Titian) * . ' ,, ,, 27
Thomas Howard, Duke and Earl of Norfolk (after Holbein)
to face page 43
Bear. ... 61
Beaver . . " . . . . . .. ,, 83
Chinchillas . , . . . . . . . ,, ,, 79
Common Squirrel ^. ' . . . . ,, ,, 81
Common Wild Cat .,-. . . . . ,, ,, 103
Ermines ..... . . . ,, ,, 77
Falkland Island Fur Seal ,, 95
Fox . : . ..... . . . ,, 65
Glutton . . . . ., ,. . . ,, ,, 75
Lion ,, 59
Muscatel ... . . . .. . . ,, ,, 91
Opossum . . ' . . >i 90
Platypus . .... 93
Polar Bear . . '. . ?. . . .^ 99
Primus Monkey . . . ~ . . . to face Contents
Racoon . . . . . . ... . to face page 85
Sable . V . ^. . ,, 73
SeaLions. . . . . . . : . ,, ,, 97
Squirrels . . . .. ,, ,, 64
Tiger . ' . .. . -" -' .. ,, 101
FURS
AND
FUR GARMENTS
CHAPTER I
Origin of the use of fur in costume Mentioned in
Scripture Its great antiquity The red dye Dyed
rams The B air am ram Byzantine and Venetian
ladies A red terrier The legend of the Golden
Fleece Medea The A mazons .
THE use of the skins of wool and fur bearing
animals as convenient and readily adapted clothing,
goes back to the remotest antiquity, even to the days
of our first parents, who made themselves garments
with the skins of beasts. This costume is common
among all savage and half-civilized nations in cold,
temperate and semi-tropical climates. In the torrid
zone, however, the use made of the furs of the
more showy animals is purely ornamental, and this
2 FUJtS AND
for obvious reasons. But apart from the mere
employment of skins as warm clothing, there grew
up, at an early period, a taste which naturally
created a demand for the more beautiful furs for
purposes of personal adornment and ornament. Of
this we find many examples cited in Scripture.
Some biblical scholars think, for instance, that the
" badgers' skins," which formed part of the outer-
most covering of the Tabernacle in the wilderness,
were in reality the skins of the otter the badger
being unknown in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine.
Below this covering was yet another, which was
formed of a series of rams' skins dyed red (Exodus
xxxv. v. 19).
It is remarkable that to this day throughout
the East it is a popular practice to dye domestic
animals a peculiar carrotty red. You will notice
all over Asia Minor cattle dragging ploughs, wag-
gons and arabas (private carriages), with tufts of
their hair dyed a vivid red. I have seen in some
of the villages horses with their fetlocks dyed red,
and in Sardou's Gismonda, a play recently produced
with remarkable accuracy of detail, a child's rock-
ing-horse is introduced, dyed a vivid carrot hue.
Now, the scene of the drama is laid in Athens
during the Middle Ages, and the authority for
FUR GARMENTS 3
this curious colouring for a toy horse is the existence
in the Museum of the Louvre of several specimens
of ancient toys similarly treated as to their colour-
ing. The fashion, too, in the East, of dyeing that
very odd but popular pet, a fat ram, a vivid brick-
red, must have an origin, which has not been
handed down to us. The ram sacrificed by the
Sultan on the morning of the Kurban Bairam is
dyed a bright red orange. In an ancient Italian
work on Constantinople, published in 1524, with
illustrations by Pietro Vercellio, the nephew of
Titian, the following curious and now obsolete
ceremony is described. " At dawn, on the morning
of the Kurban Bairam, the Sultan, armed with a
gold-handled knife, richly studded with gems, slays
twelve fat rams, which are painted a brilliant red.
They are of enormous size, and have tails which
weigh many pounds." In the bazaars of Constan-
tinople huge rams, some of them very old, with
tremendous tails, are allowed to roam about, and
are treated as pets by the merchants.
Whether the rams' skins hung round the
Tabernacle, and mentioned in Exodus, were simply
dyed red for the sake of artistic effect, so that in
the course of time it became a fashion to dye
animals the same strange tint, has, I believe,
i 2
4 FUJRS AND
never been determined. When recently in Turkey,
I saw a Maltese terrier belonging to a Turkish lady
dyed the same colour, but her husband could give
no reason why it had thus been disfigured, except
that it was considered to be " very pretty." Another
singular point in connection with the choice of this
peculiar reddish-orange colour is that it is produced
by the same dye used by the Persians to stain their
beards and hair hennin.
The Byzantine belles used this red dye. The
Persians from time immemorial have dyed their hair
and beards red probably the custom has a religious
raison d'etre, the Persians being Zoroastians and fire
worshippers. Doubtless, they set the fashion to the
Venetian ladies of " Titian red hair." The fair
ladies on the Grand Canal improved upon the
Perso-Byzantine dye by adding a peculiar golden
lustre to it, the recipe for which is still extant.
The process must have been very tiresome, for
the lady had to pass her tresses over the broad
brim of a crownless straw hat, and sit for three
hours in the sun before the proper colouring was
obtained by the effect of the heat and light. In
old engravings of Venice in the sixteenth century
you will frequently see groups of persons repre-
sented as apparently sitting under umbrellas on
A BYZANTINE LADY (NINTH CENTURY).
(From the Louandre Collection.)
To face page 5.
FUR GARMENTS 5
the roofs of their houses. They are in reality
Venetian ladies dyeing and drying their hair.
Of late years it has become fashionable in Paris
for super-elegant ladies to dye their hair a bright
copper colour. Possibly the choice of red dye for
animals may have originated in a desire to defeat
the evil eye red being in all mythologies an
infernal colour, and in many old pictures the
wicked one is represented scarlet, and in a beautiful
fragment by Orcagna, his Satanic Majesty is painted
black of face and body, but with red hair. Miss
Pardoe, in her charming book, " The City of the
Sultan," describes the Turkish ladies of her time
as using a Persian dye, with the view of turning
their naturally dark tresses a bright red. I have
seen in the West Indies, sheep with tufts of hair
dyed red, and some of the negroes also dye their
hair red, whereas not a few of the American Indians
add a red wig to their war costume. In the East
the dye used is known as Armenian or Turkey red,
or Bole, an ocherous earth, being a composition of
whiting, red oxide of iron and red ochre.
Unquestionably the history of any trade or com-
merce, if traced to its earliest origin, would prove
of the utmost importance in assisting us to form a
just estimate of the civilisation to which a nation
6 FURS AND
has arrived. Take as an instance in point the
history of cereals and viniculture, of which we
possess consecutive testimony from a very remote
age, and by means of which we can form a very
just idea, so to speak, of the procession of civili-
sation, from the time when bread of the roughest
kind was staple food, to the elaborate confectionery
of the eighteenth and present centuries. The
history of the furriers' trade, however, has even
greater ethnological and geographical value than
any other ; for, in addition to its importance as
illustrating the progress of man in costume, it gives
us a very fair idea of the various geographical
discoveries made in early times, especially in the
Northern latitudes, whence the finest furs are ob-
tained. I have before me a very curious and
interesting work, published in the early part of
the eighteenth century, under the title of " Les
Fourrouns" by M. Cottier. Amid much interest-
ing matter it contains evidences of great research
among authorities little known or no longer extant.
He seems to think and, indeed, apparently with
very excellent reason that the expedition of the
Arganautes to carry off the Golden Fleece is
nothing more nor less than an allegory connected
with the early fur traders, whose vessels brought
FUR GARMENTS 7
from the Black Sea, through the Bosphorus, into
the Greek seas, a vast quantity of furs obtained
from the Iberians, whose country is now known
as Siberia, by the simple addition of the letter 5
to the original name. Thus, possibly, Jason was
merely a fur trader, round whose very doubtful
commercial and domestic morality poetry has woven
one of her most glorious legends. Medea, according
to tradition, landed at Therapia, nearly opposite to
the rocks at the entrance to the Black Sea, between
which the Arganautes passed on the famous ex-
pedition conducted by Jason. The Enchantress is
represented in an archaic sculpture, preserved in
the Museum at Constantinople, as wearing a sort
of cloak evidently lined with fur. We can imagine
her, therefore, landing on the pine -clad shores of
Therapia, close to where now stands the British
Embassy, with her fur-lined cloak and her infernal
baggage, containing a complete assortment of
magical and mischief- making implements, bent on
vengeance upon the recalcitrant Jason, whom she
eventually traced with fatal results to Corinth.
The Amazons, we are assured by Strabo, wore
furs, and effectively, so they are represented upon
several ancient bas-reliefs illustrating their heroic
exploits. The Bacchantes decked themselves with
8 FURS AND
the skins of panthers, which must have been more
uncommon in the tropical parts of Asia Minor than
at present ; for, in the sixteenth century, a panther's
skin was sold at Genoa for something like ^"40,
equal to ^"200 of our present money, as une grande
rarete. Vossius describes the Parthenians as wearing
black and white bearskins, the head of the bear
being arranged as a sort of helmet, which must
have produced an awe-striking effect. The question
is, whence came these white bears; naturally from
the extreme North, thus indicating the existence of
trade in these bearskins of the utmost antiquity.
Even in the Homeric age, and certainly under the
Greeks and Romans, the great plain of the Taurus,
now misnamed Armenia, was the centre of a vast fur
trade, the ramifications of which extended into Asia
Minor and Europe, as far as Scotland and Norway.
But the ancients did not use furs only as garments,
but as bed-clothes and sheets. Even now, all over
the colder parts of Asia, fur coverlets are thrown
over the beds, and silk sheets lined with fur are
still used. An old writer mentions that, in 1672, fur
coverlets were awarded to the best behaved invalids
in the Parisian hospitals.
FUR GARMENTS
CHAPTER II
The Assyrians Semwamis and her 8,000 tiger skins
Persian hats The antiquity of the fur trade in China
and Japan Nero Rugs in antiquity The Goths and
Ostrogoths The Scythians The clergy and the sump-
tuary laws.
THE Assyrians were exceedingly lavish of costly
furs, and we are told by Herodotus and other ancient
historians that they were conspicuous amongst the
adornments of the palace of Sardanapalus. Queen
Semiramis brought back with her from her Indian
expedition over 8,000 tiger skins, with which, doubt-
less, she carpeted the enormous palace which she
constructed in the so-called Hanging Gardens.
Herodotus states that the people who inhabited
the shores of the " Caspian Sea were clad in the
rich fur of the seal," and ^Elianus and Plutarch
both speak of the " Pontic Mouse," by some sup-
posed to be the ermine, whose fur made beautiful
robes, and also coverings for the couches in the
palace of Pharnabazus.
The ancient as well as the actual Persian head-
io FUJRS AND
dress, consists of a tall cylinder-shaped hat covered
with astrachan fur. The Ancient Jews also wore
a fur hat shaped very much like our silk chimney-
pot hat, covered with trimmed beaver dyed black.
In the early part of this century when the tall hat
became the fashion, it was covered with black
beaver instead of silk.
The Chinese and Japanese claim that they have
used furs as articles of luxury for at least 2,500 years
(the Chinese probably for 3,000 years). And at
the Health Exhibition, many will remember how
admirably lined with various rich furs were the
winter garments shown in the Chinese and Japanese
Sections, and it should not be forgotten that the
costumes of these great Empires have undergone
little or no variation in countless generations. It
was, therefore, doubtless from the East that the
Greeks and Romans derived their love for costly
skins. It is true that, owing in part to the
mildness of the Athenian and Roman climates,
fur was rarely introduced into civil costumes,
although it was almost universally so in military,
and, moreover, much used to cover couches, and
those beautiful but rather chilly mosaic pavements,
the revival of which, under the name of " Venetian
paving," in the present day, provides another proof,
ST. JOHN CHRYSOSTOM.
(From an early Mosaic.)
To face page 10.
FUR GARMENTS n
if one were needed, that there is absolutely " nothing
new under the sun " and with the mosaics and the
ancient lounges, have we not also developed a taste
for handsome fur rugs and covers, which are at once
so warm and so picturesque ?
Nero, as his historian Suetonius narrates, usually
sat upon an ivory throne, which stood upon the skin
of an African lion, whose head admirably stuffed
(for the taxidermist's art is one of the oldest known),
and looking as if alive, served the terrible tyrant as
a footstool. The habit of carpeting a room entirely,
as we did, until quite recently, and still do (sanitary
precautions to the contrary notwithstanding) was
unknown in antiquity. Our much abused forbears
were too sensible not to know that rugs and skins,
which can be easily moved and shaken, are far more
convenient and wholesome, since the dust can be
soon got out of them, than a heavy and permanently
nailed down carpet, which can be taken up only
at stated and infrequent intervals. Hence rugs and
skins were in great demand in that luxurious period
which elapsed between the last years of the Roman
Republic and the fall of the Empire. When a vic-
torious Emperor or warrior returned in triumph to
Rome, he usually brought with him an incredible
quantity of skins and hides of wild animals. But,
12 FUJRS AND
although we have a few busts and statues extant
of Roman Emperors, wearing a material on their
shoulders which looks not unlike fur, there is no
indication until the third century that it was em-
ployed for the ornamentation of dress, although,
indeed, most probably it was so, for the linings of
winter coats and cloaks. In the fourth century the
fur of the beaver, or Pontic Dog as it was called,
was in great demand, also the ermine, which now
begins to be included in the regalia of the various
newly Christianised nations. The tribes of Goths,
Huns and Ostrogoths, which were migrating in such
hosts from the North, carried with them the choice
furs of the Arctic regions, and during the middle
ages they became articles of luxury throughout
Central and Southern Europe. In the Crusading
era, the warriors returning home brought with them
many Oriental luxuries, and among them furs were
conspicuous.
Fur of rare quality was, however, little known in
Western Europe until the second and third centuries,
when, as already said, the eruptions of the Northern
tribes reached as far as Rome. Their strange cos-
tumes, mainly consisting of fur-lined or bordered
garments, soon attracted the attention of the civilized
nations they invaded who were already familiar with
FUR GARMENTS 13
the rare furs of the East, but who were charmed
with the beauty of the choicer skins brought from
the Northern regions by their savage visitors.
Gradually a trade in furs was opened between the
Romans of the later empire and the Northern tribes,
but no certain information can be found older than
the sixth century upon this subject. A writer of
that period speaks of the Scythians a name by
which he designated the people of Sweden, Norway,
Lapland and Finland as sending their celebrated
furs to the Italian markets ; and another tribe of
Scythians, the Hanugari, who were known on account
of their trade in mouse skins.
It is a well-known fact, that in early times, furs
were the sole wealth of these Northern tribes, and
the only goods they exported. In them they paid
their taxes, and we find various records of the
number of skins of martens, reindeer, otters, bears,
&c., which passed annually out of their hands.
Furs became fashionable and popular in England
very early. At first only the best native furs were
used, afterwards those of foreign countries ; and
then, as now, the more costly they were the more
highly were they esteemed. They were introduced
into the state dress of royalty, and soon into that
of the higher nobility. The "mantle" thrown over
H FURS AND
the cuirass or harness was bordered with costliest
fur, and, hence, ermine and sable, &c., became
parts of the oldest coats of arms. Thus the Lady
Constance, in Shakespeare's King John, upbraids
Austria, " Thou wear a lion's hide ! doff it for
shame, and hang a calf's skin on those recreant
limbs." Soon the costliness of the furs in fashion
became so extravagant, that strict sumptuary laws
were enacted with respect to them. The clergy
often preached against them, and endeavoured to
prevent the excessive indulgence in their display,
which had become common even among those who
could ill afford such expensive raiment.
It is, however, a curious fact that furs figure
very rarely in heraldry of the earliest era of that
science. Vair, sable and ermine, however, are fre-
quently introduced from the twelfth to the eighteenth
centuries. The tails of the ermines always appearing
brushed out fan-shaped. The ermine figures as a
small white animal in the bearings of Anne of
Brittany, surmounted by a ducal crown.
FUR GARMENTS 15
CHAPTER III
Anecdote of Charlemagne The fur trade in Byzantium
The fur markets of Constantinople The Turks and
their fur garments A phenomenally cold winter Gallci
Placida and her state robe Justinian The Kakarye
Jame The -Italian Pellicerie Ermine St. John
Chrysostom The costumes of the Grand Viziers
Murad II. The tandour.
IT is related of Charlemagne that he wore a
winter pelisse ; but, that whilst the most costly
oriental furs were worn by his courtiers, he con-
fined himself to those of his native country, using
only sheep and other common skins. A story is
told of his ridiculing his courtiers, when, once upon
a time, on a cold rainy day, he went, wearing
only a sheep's skin garment, hunting with his
suite. His attendants, who had learnt in Italy
to admire the rare skins which could there be
purchased from the Levantines, wore rich foreign
cloths and furs. These having become thoroughly
drenched, they dried them at the fire, with the
result that they crumbled to pieces. The Emperor
1 6 FURS AND
caused his sheep's skin, when dried, to be well
rubbed ; and then, showing it to his courtiers,
lectured them upon their folly in wearing such
expensive but useless dresses.
As the glass of fashion and elegance after
the fall of the Roman Empire was fixed in Con-
stantinople, the capital of the new empire, the
great fur market of the world for over 1.400 years
was Byzantium ; and it is a matter of archeo-
logical interest that the actual skin and fur market
of Stamboul stands in precisely the same spot as
the old Byzantine fur market, a fact clearly es-
tablished by certain extremely ancient bas-reliefs,
representing scenes in a fur market, which have
been discovered in the vicinity. The Turks un-
doubtedly wore fur -lined oaf tins, or robes, long
before they conquered Constantinople, but in all
probability they ignored the skilful arts of dressing
skins and furs carried to perfection by the Byzan-
tines, and learnt them from their captives after
the fatal year 1453, when the cross was torn from
St. Sophia and replaced by the crescent. The chief
reason for the importance of the furrier's business in
Constantinople is, doubtless, mainly due to the cli-
mate, a very cold one in winter. As an illustration
of how cold Constantinople can be, I will simply
FUR GARMENTS 17
record that in the year 1415 the ice on the Sea
of Marmara was so great that by its pressure on
the shore it broke down the sea wall, and that in
1892 people were able to walk across the upper
part of the Golden Horn. Under these circum-
stances it is pleasant to wear a coat lined with the
softest furs, and the rich Byzantine costumes were
in winter always lined and edged with furs of all
kinds. The decorative qualities of the tiger and
leopard skins were duly appreciated, and in a fine
mosaic, still extant, of the Empress Galla Placida,
Queen of Lombardy, she is represented as wearing
a lining of leopard's skin to her court train. It
may be here observed that the Lombardic and
other Italian sovereigns, from the fifth to the eleventh
centuries, followed with the most scrupulous exacti-
tude the fashions of Byzantium in matters of costume
and manners. Ravenna under the Exarchs was a
replica, so to speak, of Constantinople, and in the
splendid churches of that most interesting city, still
so rich in Byzantine architecture, will be found
many mosaics representing great personages wear-
ing fur lined and trimmed robes notably in the
glorious mosaics of the churches of San Vitale and
Sant 'Appolinare in Classis. In Constantinople the
Turkish iconoclasts destroyed in a few months almost
2
1 8 FURS AND
every vestige of pictorial and plastic art which existed
in the 670 churches of the " city loved of God." They
coated them with yellow and whitewash. Within
the past few years a number of mosaics have, how-
ever, been discovered under the paint which the
Turks employed when they disfigured the churches
in their zeal to convert them into mosques. Among
these the most beautiful is the famous Kakarye Jame,
or mosaic mosque, formerly a Christian church of
the twelfth century. The domes and walls alike
are rich with mosaics, and among the numerous
figures represented are many wearing rich furs.
The Emperor Justinian and the ex-circus rider
Theodora, are, for instance, seen attired in rich robes
edged with fur of a dark colour, possibly sable. The
Constantinopolitan fur market was supplied with
merchandise from the nations inhabiting the shores
of the Black and Caspian Seas. Hence it was
despatched into Europe generally by sea to Genoa
and Venice, where whole streets were devoted to the
sale of furs. The Italian fur markets were called
Pellicerie, and to this day furs and skins are sold in
Genoa in a long narrow series of streets still called
the Pelliceria, or Peltry.
The Byzantine emperors exacted from the con-
quered or tributary princes an annual tribute of
FUR GARMENTS 19
furs and skins of beasts, and undoubtedly it is to
them that we owe the introduction of ermine as
a royal fur. The Greeks, who were very fond of
ermine, believed it to be the skin of a white rat.
Wagner and Ray are the two first naturalists who
classified this little animal among the weazels. The
Byzantines called it the Armenian rat fur hence
the word Hermine, or ermine and until quite late
in the seventeenth century it was always termed in
France le rat d'Armenie. The finest skins were in
olden times obtained from the rich plateau of the
Taurus (Armenia) ; but the animal exists else-
where, and the dukes of Brittany usually wore
ermine robes of native production. Still, even now
the great ermine markets of the East are Van,
Erivan, Ezeroum and Bitlis. But let us return
for a moment to the Byzantines and their cos-
tumes the richest ever worn by men and women ;
St. John Chrysostom, who has left us such a spirited
account of life in Constantinople in his time, speaks
of the " rich soft furs of the wealthy." He contrasts
the ladies of rank, wrapped up in the costliest furs,
" brocades, cloaks lined with the skins of beasts
brought at infinite cost from far off lands," with
the poor beggars in their scanty cotton garments,
perishing with cold. "Ladies," he tells us, "could
2 2
20 FURS AND
pay a slave's ransom for a splendid cloak, and vied
with each other as to the magnificence of the fur
which lined it. Often do men," says he, " stint
and slave themselves in order that their wives may
wear costly raiments and rare silks and furs." In
winter all who could afford to do so wore costly
furs, and even the lower orders as, indeed, do their
descendants invariably faced the bitter wind which
blows from the Black Sea in fur-lined garments
rats', rabbits' and cats' skins being employed by
those who could not afford the rich sable, ermine
and fox linings of the wealthy. The Byzantines
used fur in the vestments of their priests, but only
sable, ermine and astrachan were permitted. The.
inventories of church furniture belonging to St.
Sophia contain mention of furs. After the great
Archbishop Chrysostom was exiled he sought refuge
on the plateau of Armenia among the hunters, and
he died wrapped up in his caftin, or fur-lined cloak.
When the Turks conquered Constantinople, and
converted it in the fifteenth century into the capital
of their heterogenous empire, they adopted, with
modifications, the costumes of the fallen Byzan-
tines. Thus the caftin, or fur-lined cloak, which
they rarely put aside, even in summer, was worn
by the Byzantines, and the fez is also Greek.
FUR GARMENTS 21
Formerly this head - dress was worn inside the
turban to indicate the right of conquest. It was,
as it were, clasped in the folds of the distinctive
head-dress of the followers of Mahomet. But the
grandfather of the actual Sultan Abd-ul-Hamid
II. Sultan Mahmoud II., the Reformer, decreed
that the turban might disappear if only the fez, or
crimson scull cap were retained. In ancient times,
and, indeed, until 1825, the Grand Vizier wore a
flowing robe of white satin, lined and edged with
ermine. His head-dress consisted of a mighty egg-
shaped turban edged with fur. The Sultan also
wore ermine, but not invariably, and it does not
seem to have been special to his rank, for some
of the marvellous brocaded robes belonging to the
earlier sultans, Selim II., Ibrahim, Murad III.,
&c., exhibited in the Treasury, are lined with sable
and fox. The Sultan Selim III. wore a robe
lined with a lion's skin ; another often appeared
with a leopard's hide introduced into his costume
with martial effect. The present Sultan wears a
robe lined with a vivid yellow fox fur possibly it
may be yellow sable. The costumes of the Jani-
series included many rich furs, and the Boluch
Bachi, or captain of a hundred Janiseries, wore a
caftin or cloak lined with astrachan and a head-
22 FURS AND
dress of the same fur, surmounted by a sort of
fan-shaped ornament made of peacock feathers. The
Turkish ladies in winter wear a zimarra, a garment
which might be described as a fur-lined tea-gown,
of velvet, silk or cashmere of the richest kind,
hanging to the feet and completely enveloping the
person. In olden times parties of Turkish and
Giaour ladies would sit in winter round a tandour
a sort of large brazier filled with burning nibs
or fine charcoal usually covered over with a rich
fur rug, and indulge in a smoke and a gossip.
In winter in every Turkish household fur rugs
and even fur-lined sheets are used in addition to
carpets ; and when a Turkish household moves,
the furniture mainly consists of furs, embroidered
coverlets, and carpets and rugs, instead of chairs
and tables, as with us these articles of furniture
being very little known in an Eastern house, where
divans are made to do duty for sofas, chairs, chests
of drawers, and even of tables.
FUR GARMENTS 23
CHAPTER IV
The Venetians and the Turks Number g Venetian
ladies and their furs Progress of the fur trade in
Italy Lucrezia Borgia Her wedding dress Caterina
Cornaro.
THROUGHOUT Eastern Europe, as far as Vienna,
fur is universally worn, and Pesth, Leipsig, Amster-
dam, Prague and Frankfort are even now leading
fur markets. Nurnberg was in the zenith of its
glory a very important fur centre, and in Bruges
there is to this day a Pelterie, or fur market. But
in the middle ages Venice and Genoa carried on
an enormous commerce with Constantinople and
the Levant, and their fur markets were famous
resorts of merchants from Germany, France and
England. The Venetians and Genoese, whose con-
nection with Constantinople was for nearly fourteen
hundred years exceedingly intimate, transacted
business in Pera, Galata and the Golden Horn
side of Constantinople itself, beyond the Greek
quarter of the Phanar, which were literally Italian
cities with independent government, civil and
24 FURS AND
ecclesiastic, under a Podesta, appointed by the two
great republics of Genoa and Venice.
This commercial intimacy naturally led, in the
course of time, to social influences, which bore upon
Venetian private and public life in a very curious
manner. The Venetian women, until the sixteenth
century, lived retired, obscure and harem-like lives,
and their dress was nearly identical with that of
their Byzantine and Turkish sisters, even to the
Yasmac, fur-lined feridge and the high clogs. The
artistic genius of the Renaissance changed all this,
and the gorgeous costumes invented by Capaccio,
Paul Veronese and Titian, took the place of the
austere garments of a former period. Velvets and
silks now predominated. Women went about with
their necks bare, bedecked with strings of the rarest
pearls, set off by the costliest furs. All sorts of furs
were now introduced into the scheme of personal
decoration by the painter's art witness the sump-
tuous works of Veronese and Tintoretto. What
a debauch, so to speak, of colours, of stuffs, of
skins and furs ermine, miniver, sable, leopard and
fox, mingle with flashing jewels, golden chains, and
stiff brocades and shimmering satins ! It is a veri-
table riot of magnificence tempered by good taste
and artistic feeling of the highest order. Florence
FUR GARMENTS 25
and Rome followed the lead of Venice. Lucrezia
Borgia, the belied daughter of Alexander VI., goes
as a sposa, or bride, to Ferrara, to become duchess
to her fourth husband, Duke Alfonzo. Sanudo, in
his diary he followed the beautiful duchess in her
progress from Rome to Bologna, and thence to
Ferrara can scarcely find adjectives to qualify the
splendour of the fair bride's wardrobe. Pages upon
pages are filled with descriptions of silks and bro-
cades, velvets and taffetas. The jewels are so large
and so numerous that one wonders not only whence
they all came, but what has become of them. There
were hundreds of necklaces and diadems of pearls,
emeralds, diamonds and rubies, in this wonderful
corbeille de noce cassetta the Italians called it and
heaps of " pellice" "Ten mules," he tells us,
" carried the boxes which contained the furs be-
longing to my lady the duchess, the majority of
which came from the East." On her marriage-day
she wore a garment of ruby velvet, in the French
style, edged with dark fur. Her train was of cloth
of gold, lined with ermine. Round her neck she
wore the thirty rows of priceless pearls the Pope
gave her, and on her head a diadem of diamonds
which blazed like a sun. In the long list of fur-
niture and effects, which formerly belonged to Maria
26 FURS AND
Moncenigo (dated Venice, 1584), are mentioned many
fur-lined garments a court robe, lined with ermine ;
a robe in the Roman fashion, lined with marten
(fodrata di martori) ; a petticoat of black satin, lined
and edged with old ermine (zebellini vecchi) ; a
Roman robe for the night, lined with wolf; another
of crimson satin, lined with rabbit (conigli) ; a court
robe of green velvet, lined with sable from Russia ;
forty-five robes lined with various furs ; a robe of
blue satin (very old), lined with very fine ermine ;
a train of yellow damask, lined with marten ; a yellow
silk train, lined and trimmed with white feathers
(very rare) ; a train of pink brocade, edged with
peacock feathers those from the breast ; one hun-
dred pairs of shoes, many lined with fur. The
Venetian doge wore a robe of cloth of gold, lined
with ermine, and the " terrible ten " wore crimson
robes, edged with dark fur.
In the list of the furniture and effects of the
very noble Venetian lady Maria, relicta quondam
Clarissimi Domini Hieronimi Pollani, who died
January yth, 1590, we find over sixty fur-lined robes,
and a great number of bed-covers lined with fur.
There are also a curious variety of rugs, made of
the hides of beasts, with the heads and tails stuffed
to look like life ; a lion's hide, with the head stuffed
THE CONSTABLE DE BOURBON.
(After Titian.)
To face page 27.
FUR GARMENTS 27
and with glass eyes ; a tiger's skin with head stuffed ;
a monkey stuffed like life ; and, finally, a big box
(cassone) full of moth-eaten fur rugs.
From the archives of the illustrious house of
Corner to which belonged Caterina Cornaro, the
famous Queen of Cyprus, whose superb portrait by
Titian, representing her as wearing a fur-lined robe,
is so well-known I extracted a list of fifty heads
of animals, mostly stags, beautifully stuffed, " with
horns and all complete."
If we may judge by Titian's marvellous master-
piece, which is here reproduced, his portrait of the
Constable de Bourbon, that terrible man who sacked
Rome and destroyed in twelve days more artistic
wonders and remains of antiquity than had done
the Vandals and the Huns, he must have been
exceedingly partial to furs, for his cloak and hat
are entirely covered with sable, which the illustrious
Venetian artist has rendered to perfection. This is
one of the earliest pictures in which fur is painted
with anything approaching realism, although it was
frequently introduced into the works of much earlier
artists, in those of Angelico, Ghirlandajo, Perugino,
Memling and Van Eyck, but to Raphael and Titian
is due the credits of first painting it in a bold and
masterly style. Raphael, after his first attempts,
28 FURS AND
which were not particularly successful vide the
St. John of the Tribune, at Florence seems to have
become enamoured of fur, and has introduced it in
many varieties in most of his portraits, and with
astonishing effect. Titian, however, when he does
paint fur, excels in the perfect manner in which he
gives us an idea, not only of its softness and quality,
but of its thickness and rich variations of tone and
colour. Another Italian master, who was particularly
fortunate in the manner in which he rendered fur,
is Paris Bordone, who painted a good deal at the
Court of the Valois, and from whose brush we have
a very noble portrait of Mary Stuart as a girl and
another of Henry VIII. as a young man.
FUR GARMENTS 29
CHAPTER V
Vair Cinderella's slipper Planche The Miniver : its
history Used as a royal fur St. Bernard preaches
against extravagance in furs Miniver in ecclesiastical
costume The Canons of the Later an Nuns
Edward III. limits the use of ermine to the royal
family.
ACCORDING to a sentence in the Roman de Garin,
1060, even at that early date, furs in France were
greatly esteemed and large sums paid for them.
" What matters," says the bard, " the great price
you pay for your costly furs, if your hearts are
worthless." Le Menu-ver or Miniver, 1 so much
spoken of in the history of French costume, is
usually supposed to be the under part of the
Miniver, or grey squirrel. Theophile Gauthier, in
an essay or Cinderella, assures us that young lady's
, . . . y
i Miniver is really made from ermine, spotted with astra-
chan. Astrachan is a much more ancient fur than is usually
supposed. Some miniver robes of the fifteenth century have
been recently carefully examined, and leave no doubt but that
the black tips on them are astrachan, and not ermine tails.
30 FURS AND
famous glass slipper was not made of glass at all,
but simply lined with ver or miniver, wrongly in-
terpreted as verve (glass).
The epoch immediately preceding the Renaissance
was a golden age for the fur trade. The rage for
wearing fur-lined and trimmed garments spread to
the North. The Crusaders had brought back with
them many skins and furs of animals little known
to our ancestors ; and the wardrobes of our kings
and queens, from the Conqueror down, show an
increasing scale in the popularity of the use of
furs. Thus we know that Matilda of Flanders,
wife of the Conqueror, had one mantle lined
with ermine possibly the white Brittany rat,
with dyed tails but Eleanor of Aquitaine, the
wife of Henry II., had " many fur-lined robes " ;
but it is not until the period of the Crusaders
that the rarer kinds of furs are mentioned, in
our national wardrobe accounts, in any great
numbers. Margaret of Anjou is represented in
her memorial portrait, in the great chancel window
of the cathedral at Angiers, wearing a tight-fitting
jacket it looks as if it were made of closely-
knitted, corded silk edged with ermine.
St. Bernard on one occasion preached against
the extravagance of the clergy in the matter
A NOBLEMAN OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY.
(From a Contemporary Drawing by Vercelli.)
To face page 31.
FUR GARMENTS 31
of furs, and denounced specially the use of
ermine dyed crimson, which the priests were
in the habit of using as lining for their
sacerdotal costumes. At Christmas, 1316, Philip
the Long of France purchased an ermine cloak,
which had cost the lives of thousands of animals.
This is nothing, however, to the coronation robes
of the later Czar of Russia, in the construction
of which over 250,000 ermines were sacrificed.
The Empress Catherine II.'s coronation robes cost
25,000 roubles, and were of richly embroidered
velvet, lined with ermine and edged with sable.
This Imperial lady was in the habit of presenting
furs of great price to friendly sovereigns, ant;! once
sent a superb sable cloak to Voltaire, as a mark of
her esteem. The coronation robes of Napoleon I.
preserved at Notre Dame are also lined with costly
ermine.
Planche tells us that the principal furs used in
olden time in England were " biche (the skin of the
female deer), budge (lambskin), Calabrere, cicimus,
dossus, ermine, foxes, foynes and fitches (i.e., pole-
cats and weasels), greys or gres, sables, wolves and
vair." Ermine, he informs us, is called Hertmence
Pelles, in the Council of London, A.D. 1138, cap. 15.
By the end of the twelfth century no one would
32 FURS AND
wear either sheep or fox skins, which had so lately
been worn both by the barons and the clergy. It
would seem that fashion bore sway and was as
fleeting then as now !
Vair a fur ranking with ermine and sable,
amongst the most highly prized of the many used
for the lining or trimming of mantles, gowns, and
other articles of apparel is said to have been the
skin of a species of weasel, grey on the back,
and white on the throat and belly. According to
Guillaume le Briton, the skins of which it was
composed came from Hungary ; but the white
stoat is called to this day a minifer in Norfolk.
Vair gives its name to a charge in heraldry,
wherein it is depicted like a series of heater-shaped
shields, alternately white and blue (argent and
azure), and such is its general appearance on the
mantles or tippets of high personages in illumina-
tions. Ermine, however, does not appear ^to have
been used, as already said, as an official [mark of
high distinction, earlier than the fourth century ;
but in the sixth it was adopted by the French as
distinctive of legal dignity, and is so to] this day,
the judges having their scarlet robes edged ^with
ermine. It was used also at a very [early period
by the Court of Rome, for the state garments of
FUR GARMENTS 33
the cardinals and of the canons of St. John of
Lateran, only the little black tails are usually
omitted in church costume, in order to emphasize
the purity of the ecclesiastical profession.
The Roman cardinals, however, retained the right
to wear ermine linings to their state robes ; but they
very rarely use it. On the other hand, the red velvet
tippet, or cape, always worn by the Pope, is lined
and edged with ermine, usually without tails.
At the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle, ninth century,
the dress of the monks was carefully denned, each
monk being furnished with gloves; in the summer,
" wanti," a kind of glove without fingers, having a
place for the thumb and made of woollen cloth; in
winter, " muffulce," which appear to have been
made of fur, and to have been a sort of sleeve or
deep cuff. In the twelfth century, the canons of a
Sens cathedral allowed themselves to be corrupted
by presents of beautiful furs, and whilst, in 1127,
the Council of London allowed abbesses and nuns
to wear the fur of lambs and cats only, furs were
then forbidden altogether to the clergy. It is
impossible now to ascertain which was the first
English sovereign who wore ermine ; but it is
certain that Edward III. issued a decree, limiting
its use exclusively to the royal family, a law, how-
3
34 FURS AND
ever, which was not long strictly obeyed, for in
Richard III.'s reign another edict was published
to the same effect.
Isabeau of Bavaria, the infamous consort of
Charles VI. of France, if we may judge from a fine
illumination, wore on state occasions robes so thickly
bordered with ermine as to present very little of the
velvet or brocade of which they were composed.
She was a most profligate and extravagant woman,
who so grossly neglected her insane husband and
children as to arouse universal indignation. Whilst
she was flaunting herself about with her paramour
Orleans, the King was left to menials in the old
Hotel St. Pot, which still exsists, and the royal
children were so brutally neglected that a contem-
porary describes the future Queen of England,
Catherine of Valois, the wife of our heroic Henry V.,
and the great-grandmother of the mighty Elizabeth :
" Is starved, sick, in rags, and covered with sores
and vermin." However, when the facts of the case
were known, the Parisians rose in horror, and the
wretched little ones were better provided for at the
city's expense.
ISABEAU OF BAVARIA, QUEEN OF CHARLES VIII. OF FRANCE.
To face page 35.
FUR GARMENTS 35
CHAPTER VI
Philip the Long St. Louis Edward III. The ermine
in England Eleanor of Provence Philippa of Hainault
Fur in Germany Mus The royal crown.
THAT kings and princes during the Crusadery
resolved to restrain extravagance in this article of
dress, is proved by the fact that our Richard I.
and Philip II. of France both announced to their
followers their resolution not to wear ermine, sable
or other costly furs. We are told by Joinville,
that St. Louis, in the thirteenth century, avoided
all magnificence, and "wore no costly furs." He
brought back with him from Egypt a fashion which
he never abandoned. Joinville assures us his robes
were always lined with soft lamb's fur, dyed black,
possibly astrachan. This same lamb's pelt was fre-
quently dyed violet in the Middle Ages, and is very
often mentioned in history as ponrpre. It was occa-
sionally spotted with brown and red dye.
Philip the Long ordered himself a garment at
32
36 FURS AND
Christmas, 1316, consisting of six pieces, furred with
miniver, of which we have the following record :
SKINS
The honces, or sleeves - - were 356
The mantle - 300
The surcoat - ,, 226
The upper, or overcoat - - 298
The second overcoat, or waistcoat ,, 120
1300
The well-known contemporary portrait of Jean
Sans-peur shows us how profusely fur was used on
the costumes of the nobles of this period.
Edward III., in whose reign taxes were laid on
many articles imported into England, exacted that
no person whose income did not amount to 100 a
year should wear furs, under penalty of forfeiting
them. One hundred and fifty years later than this,
in Germany, citizens, who did not belong to the
nobility, were forbidden to wear linings of sable or
ermine, and an ordinance of 1530 directs that com-
mon citizens, tradesmen and shopkeepers were to
wear no trimmed clothes, nor to use marten or
other costly lining, and the rich only that made
of " lamb, cow, fox, weasel and such like skins."
Merchants and tradesmen were not to wear " marten,
sable or ermine," only " at most, weasel skins,"
and their wives the " fur of the squirrel only."
To face page 37.
FUR GARMENTS 37
Counts and lords might wear all kinds of linings,
sable and such like expensive kinds being excepted.
The same sumptuary laws will be found in the
Italian, French, and even Spanish archives, proving
the extravagance of the nobility in the matter of
dress during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Under the denomination of "mus" were included,
at the time of which we are writing, not only the
little animal we know as the mouse, but all the
small warm-blooded animals, which were classed
under this same category, just as formerly all large
animals were classed together under that of " bos,"
or ox ; so that we may conclude that such skins
as those of the squirrel, ermine, sable and marten
were included in these cargoes.
The ermine, according to some authorities, did
not come to us quite so soon, but, however this
may be, the fur was well known in the tenth century,
writers of that age considering, as stated, that it
was brought into Europe from the northern coun-
tries through Armenia, and it was from this cir-
cumstance it derived its name. The celebrated
Marco Polo, in his remarkable book of travels,
mentions ermine as amongst the most expensive
ornaments of the Tartars, and specially notices
that in 1252 he found the tents of the Cham of
Tartary lined with skins of ermines and sables,
33 FURS AND
which were brought from countries far north, "from
the land of darkness.*'
It is, in all probability, the ermine which is
spoken of as the " white weasel " in the laws of a
Welsh king of the tenth century, in which we find
it enacted that the skin of an ox, a deer, a fox, a
wolf and an otter are of the same price, that is,
eight times as dear as those of a sheep or goat ;
that of the " white weasel " eleven times as dear,
of a marten, twenty-four times, and of a beaver,
one hundred and twenty times !
Some old writers speak of this fur as " the precious
ermine." The animal itself figures, as previously
stated, in the bearings of Anne de Bretaigne.
It has been the royal fur of England since the
time of Edward III., who forbade its use by any
not of the blood royal, and there is a law in Austria
to the same effect, which is in force at the present
time. Our royal ermine consists of the white fur,
spotted every square inch with the black paws of
the astrachan lamb. The royal crown is bordered
with a band of ermine, with one row of black spots.
Peeresses wear capes of ermine, with rows of black
spots according to their rank ; the black spots in
these are made of the tails of the ermine ; the scarlet
robes of peers are bordered with ermine without spots.
FUR GARMENTS 39
CHAPTER VII
The "Golden Book of St. Allan's Abbey" King John-
Elizabeth Woodville Anne of Warwick Elizabeth of
York A masque under Henry VIII. Princess Mary's
tiger-skin jacket.
IN that sumptuous work, the " Golden Book of
St. Alban's Abbey" now in the British Musuem
which was splendidly illuminated in Henry I.'s time,
is a miniature of Matilda of Scotland, consort of
King Henry I., wearing a scarlet cloak, edged with
ermine.
King John, who was passionately fond of fine
clothing, and heavily taxed his subjects in order to
gratify his luxurious tastes, employed a great deal
of fur, and in the Roll Records are some curious
entries concerning it. In 1211, he ordered a robe
for his luxury-loving wife, Isabella of Angouleme,
of "crimson cloth, barred with nine bars of grey
fur." On Christmas Day, 1214, he himself appeared
at mass dressed in crimson satin robes, lined and
edged with black fur ; his baldric, which crossed
40 FURS AND
from shoulder to shoulder, was studded with uncut
gems, diamonds, and rubies. His gloves were
adorned on the backs, one with a ruby, and the
other with a sapphire, and edged with black fur.
His crown was edged with ermine, very narrow.
Eleanor of Provence, who was, perhaps, the
most beautiful as well as the most unpopular of
our female sovereigns, was on one occasion pelted
with rotten eggs and stones, as she was passing in
a boat with her ladies under London Bridge, on
which lamentable occasion she protected her head
and face from the uncomfortable storm, which her
well-known avarice had roused, by uplifting " a
mantle of grey fur."
Philippa of Hainault, the excellent wife of
Edward III., was evidently a great patroness of
fur, for amongst the entries in her wardrobe
accounts, are found items for fur-lined dresses, and
we learn that she received no less than five sable
cloaks from her father the Count of Hainault. It
is a rather curious fact, that although our early
sovereigns were unquestionably addicted to wearing
furs, there is no trace extant of what they paid for
them. Possibly, however, those they wore were royal
gifts or parts of the trousseaux of the Queens their
wives, and imported by them from abroad. Thus
HENRY VII.
To face page 41
FUR GARMENTS 41
we find Isabella of Valois, the pretty consort of
Richard II., coming over from France with an
extravagant collection of garments. Amongst them
being two, which were considered the most magnifi-
cent hitherto seen in England. One of them was
made of cloth of gold, brocaded with red velvet,
in designs of birds, fruits, and flowers, and lined with
white fur. The other was of red velvet, stamped
with gold devices of heraldry and edged with
miniver. . This Queen had also a cloak of ermine
eight yards long. Her successor, Anne of Bohemia,
surnamed " the little Queen," brought with her a
fine collection of sable and fox skins, and also "an
ermine cloak, very long." The only portrait of
Catherine of Valois, Queen of Henry V., represents
her wearing a skirt of ermine, and a cloak of satin
edged with the same fur. It is not improbable that,
since we have record of its existence immediately
before his death, Henry VI. was assassinated in
the Tower, wearing " a red cloth cloak lined with fox
skin."
Queen Elizabeth Woodville, who spent more
money upon her clothes than any of her predeces-
sors, during the short time of her triumph invented
a costume peculiar to herself, which consisted of a
long dress of " bodkin pattern," or stripes of various
42 FURS AND
coloured silks and satins, edged narrowly with black
and white fur alternately. Her coronation robe was
of ermine up to the waist, and her train, eight yards
in length, was also of ermine, and upheld by twelve
ladies each wearing ermine trimmings to their gowns.
There is no record of any remarkable furs be-
longing to Anne of Warwick, the wretched wife of
Richard III., but we do know that tbr's tyrant
wore on one accasion a " short cloak lined and edged
with sable." There is also an item in the Rous Roll
of a velvet travelling coat belonging to him lined with
sable throughout, and a cap of fox skin with a ruby
in it. Louis XL of France habitually wore a fox
skin cap with leaden images of saints stuck in it.
The very beautiful posthumous portrait of Eliza-
beth of York, by Holbein, represents her as wearing
a magnificent robe of brocaded satin, richly trimmed
round the wrists and skirts with ermine. The tails
sit very close and thick, a kind of fashion which must
have been extremely becoming and elegant. On her
first appearance in public as Queen she is said to
have worn " a kirtle of cloth of gold, furred with
ermine, and a hood also bordered with fur." In her
chamber at Westminster, on the night of her corona-
tion, 1489, we are informed that " there was no
tapestry with human figures upon it, which might
THOMAS HOWARD, DUKE AND EAXL OF NORFOLK.
(After Hans Holbein.)
To face page 43.
FUR GARMENTS 43
frighten a lady on her first waking ; but there was a
rich bed of velvet, striped with gold and garnished
with red roses. There was also a cupboard full of
gold plate. An oratory with a lamp of silver and a
picture of our Lord, and eight skins of beasts, very
rare and fine, laid about upon the floor."
Henry VII. 's portraits show him profusely
adorned with ermine and other rich furs. Indeed,
almost all the male portraits of the Tudor epoch
are remarkable for the quantity of furs introduced in
the ornamentation of their costume. Among the finest
of Holbein's works is his famous portrait of Thomas
Howard.
The deeply interesting history of Catherine of
Arragon contains many allusions to her predilection
for furs of the richest kinds. There is a portrait of
her, probably by Holbein, in which she wears sleeves
of the finest sable and a hood richly edged with a
lighter brown fur.
At Shrovetide, 1509, there was a masque at Rich-
mond, in which Henry VIII. appeared dressed in a
Russian dress of fur, and the Earl of Fitzwalter and
Wiltshire as a Russian with a furred hat of grey
squirrel. The Princess Mary, subsequently Queen
Mary I., wore a black mask as an Ethiopian queen
and a little jacket of tiger skin.
44 FU&S AND
Henry VIII., after the plunder of the monas-
teries, made unto himself out of the stolen copes
and chasubles, many of which were marvellous
specimens of ancient embroidery, gorgeous coats
and doublets, which were invariably edged, lined,
and turned back with rare fur. We have several
portraits of him thus magnificently arrayed, one of
which is reproduced here from an exceedingly rare,
if not unique, contemporary drawing in the
possession of the author. The Versailles portrait
of Queen Catherine of Arragon represents her as
dressed in deep blue velvet, open to a petticoat of
yellow satin. Her sleeves are " revers," or turned
back with heavy sables almost to the shoulder. On
her head is a coif ornamented with fine jewels, and
further adorned with a Spanish mantilla. Con-
trary to preconceived impression, she was a fair-
haired woman, with a good skin and colour, but
with a certain massiveness which is the reverse of
elegant. Her arch-enemy Wolsey wore his robes
edged with ermine, and mention is made of fur-
lined garments in his wardrobe accounts possibly
tippets of miniver, grey squirrel, and sable, such
as the higher clergy often wore in winter at this
period.
FUR GARMENTS 45
CHAPTER VIII
Furs in Scotland Margaret Tudor' 's furs Madaleim
de Valois Mary Stuart Trophies of stuffed
animals at Holyrood Anne Boleyn's nightgowns
Catherine Howard sends a present of furs to the old
Countess of Salisbury Edward F/.'s "mangey" coat
Anne of Cleves Jane Seymour Mary Tudor.
IN Scotland, furs and skins of beasts were used
in the very night - time, owing, doubtless, not only
to the coldness of the climate, but to the fact that
this country, in ancient times, was thickly covered
with forests, harbouring a great variety of fur-bearing
animals, including the bear and the wolf.
The frequent intermarriages between Scottish
Kings and French Princesses, undoubtedly intro-
duced into the Court of Edinburgh a much greater
degree of luxury and refinement than we imagine,
especially when we consider the condition of the
nobility, who remained remarkably uncouth in their
manners as late as the seventeenth century. It was
not, however, until the Renaissance that we hear
much about rich clothing in Scotland. There
46 FURS AND
must have sprung up at this period in Edinburgh
itself a goodly trade in furs and skins, and we have
certain evidence of the existence in that capital of
a "tailor" who was capable of "cleaning" furs.
Margaret Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII. and consort
of James IV. brought with her a very richly-supplied
wardrobe and a great assortment of furs. When she
left Scotland rather suddenly, in 1516, after the
disasters which befell her husband, she evidently was
not able to carry off all her belongings, for we find
her writing from Greenwich Palace to her "priest"
in Edinburgh, Rev. William Husband, possibly her
confessor, to go and see one Robert Spittell, her
tailor, who has got her furs " to clean and arrange,"
to wit, "two pairs ermine cuffs, three wide sleeves
of ermine half lining of ermine for a night-gown
seven edges of ermine and four linings of miniver."
She did not, however, get them until after the release
of the Bishop of Caithness, nearly three years later,
and he brought them to her in a coffer (a trunk)
still existing, now owned by Lord Forester. It is
covered with the bearings of the House of Douglas,
the bleeding heart crowned and the monogram M.,
surmounted by a crown. It passed into the hands
of her grand-daughter, Mary Stuart, who presented
it to an ancestor of its actual possessor.
FUR GARMENTS 47
The trousseau of the pretty child-wife of James V.,
Madaleine de Valois, contained a great quantity of
lace, fringes and furs. The inventory of it was
taken soon after her death, which, it will be re-
membered, happened very shortly and suddenly
during the wedding fetes. It contained an endless
variety of velvet, silk and satin gowns, and an
extraordinary number of furs and " trimmings of
ermine." All this property went back to France ;
probably it reappeared in the trousseau of her suc-
cessor, the wily Mary of Lorraine, the mother of Mary
Stuart, whose stock of furs was very extensive.
She seems to have employed the same Robert
Spittell or his son as her "tailor," who was in the
service of Margaret Tudor, for he is referred to
once or twice in her household accounts.
Mary Queen of Scots, who furnished her palace
at Holyrood, considerably later, in regal style, with
costly draperies, Venetian glasses and mirrors, and
inlaid furniture from Florence and even India, also
included amongst her many objets de luxe rich furs and
skins of animals as rugs. She likewise had stags'
heads prepared as trophies in her dining hall. These
facts will prove that during that great epoch of art,
the Renaissance, fur rugs and trophies of animals'
heads were highly appreciated, and, indeed, con-
48 FURS AND
sidered indispensable in order to complete the pic-
turesque decoration of a truly artistic interior.
In the wardrobe entries connected with Anne Boleyn
in Henry VIII.'s privy purse, is one to the effect
that, in December, 1527, one Master Walter Walsh
was paid 216 gs. 8d. (an enormous sum in those
days, equal to four times the amount now) for certain
stuffs lined with fur for the Lady Anne. On i6th
December her furrier (skinner) is paid ^"105 for goods
and workmanship " for *my Lady Anne." In 1531
there is a further charge of ^"40 155. 8d. payable to
Adington, the King's skinner, for furs and work done
" for the Lady Anne." From some additional items
for furred nightgowns, it would seem that this un-
lucky lady wore such habitually. 1 She paid ^"15 for
one on one occasion, and 10 on another. At her cor-
onation the Lord Mayor and burghers of London wore
dresses of scarlet edged with sable. Henry VIII.'s
favourite fur was sable, and the Emperor Charles V.
once sent him five " sets of sable " worth ^"400.
Catherine Howard once presented a set of furred
petticoats and shoes to her aged aunt, the venerable
i It has been observed to the author by a learned authority,
that the word nightgown did not always mean nightdress, but
that even as late as the first decade of this century, it was some-
times used to signify an evening garment or dress.
HENRY VIII.
(From a Contemporary Drawing in the possession of Mr. Richard Davey.)
To face page 49.
FUR GARMENTS 49
Countess of Salisbury, in the Tower a few months,
by the way, before her terrible murder. In the time
of this Queen, and about a week previous to her
execution, Lady Margaret Bryan governess to the
children of Catherine of Arragon, Anne Boleyn, and
Jane Seymour writes to the King a touching letter,
beseeching him to send her money, " for His Grace
Prince Edward has just cut his first teeth. His
garments," she adds, " are barely decent, and he
much needs a fresh set of furs, his being ' mangey.' "
Possibly the good lady means moth-eaten ; but the
word is very expressive. Henry VIII., himself, near
this time, was wearing a surcoat and doublet of
yellow satin edged with peacock feather trimming.
Sumptuous beyond anything yet seen in England
were the sables, fox linings, and furs of every
description included in the wardrobe imported into
England by Anne of Cleves, some of which she
subsequently presented to Mary I., in whose reign
a mission, confided to Sebastian Cabot, was so
successful that he induced the Duke of Muscovy
to come to England, where he was royally enter-
tained ; and who brought with him an enormous
supply of all manner of furs and skins, including a
Polar bear's hide, which caused great surprise, on
account of its size and whiteness.
4
50 FURS AND
On the occasion of her marriage, Anne of Cleves
wore a Dutch dress edged with fur, and the
King was "apparelled in a gown of cloth of gold,
raised with great flowers of silver and furred with
black jennettis." From a sketch by Holbein, Anne
appears to have been a fine woman, with a forehead
lofty and expansive. Her hair is black, the eyebrows
gracefully arched, but there are distinct marks of
small-pox, and these were fatal to her. She wears
a huge fur Assagonian hat, like a wheel turned bodily
up, with a brooch on one side, a by no means un-
becoming head-dress. She was really not plain,
but, unluckily, the small-pox pits turned the King
against her, and possibly saved her head.
Poor flighty Catherine Howard had no fortune
when the fatal honour of being made fifth Queen of
Henry VIIL was thrust upon her, and her wardrobe,
even after she had assumed the highest dignity,
was not rich in articles of dress. On the scaffold she
" wore a robe of black damask, heavily furred with
Jannette." Catherine Parr seems, from extant
evidence, to have inherited most of the finery of
her predecessors in the matrimonial scheme of
Henry VIIL, and her wardrobe was very rich in
fur-lined " night-gowns " and robes.
Queen Jane Seymour died in child-birth of
FUR GARMENTS 51
Edward IV. on Sunday, October 24th, 1537, and
we have a quaint description of her lying-in. "She
reclined, propped up with fair cushions of crimson
damask with gold, and was wrapped about with a
round mantle of crimson velvet, furred with ermine.
She expired at Hampton Court, and was ' deeply
regretted,' " as we should say. The child was bap-
tized, according to the ritual of the Latin Church,
on November i5th, being held at the font by his
wet nurse, whom he called, in after years, " Mother
Jack." She is immortalised by Holbein in an ex-
ceedingly fine sketch, possessed by Her Majesty.
Queen Jane was mourned in a popular contemporary
distich, which contains the following curious line :
" In black were her ladies and black were their fans,"
which reads like the fulfilment of a modern order
for the " Court to go into mourning." It is to be
regretted none of the " black fans " have descended
to us.
The grand portrait of Queen Mary at Madrid,
painted by Antonio Moro, represents her in a rich
brocaded dress edged with sable, which is most
exquisitely painted.
Late in March, 1557, Queen Mary Tudor re-
ceived a visit from the first Russian Ambassador
42
52 FURS AND
who ever reached these shores. He was known
as the Muscovy Ambassador. The stranger had
come to London on a mission connected with the
foundation of a Russian company, which the Queen
had confided to Sebastian Cabot. The Muscovy
plenipotentiary was a Duke (his name is not recorded)
and when he appeared before Mary he wore a very
thick robe, lined and furred with a " Russian fur,"
possibly sable, and " had on his head a nightcap
full of big pearls, the like of which had never been
seen before for size." He lodged in the City, and
was attended by a train of London merchants,
" free of Muscovia." Thus attended, the ambas-
sador and his suite were taken over Westminster
Abbey, then newly restored, after its recent spoliation
under Henry VIII. and Edward VI.
FUR GARMENTS 53
CHAPTER IX
Elizabeth Charles I. Fur in art Decline of the trade
Its revival The boas and the muffs of our grandmothers.
IT is a rather curious fact, but the wardrobe
accounts of Elizabeth are not particularly rich in
items concerning her furs. The fact was, the ex-
ceeding heaviness of her farthingales and furbelows
were such that fur could not be introduced with
impunity into such an elaborate costume. That her
nobles wore fur-lined cloaks is evident from the
magnificence of those introduced into their numerous
portraits. Elizabeth, however, had nightgowns lined
with fur, possibly white rabbit skins, until the time
of her death but her gossamer wings and her
marvellous ruffs could not possibly be worn with
furs of any description.
Queen Anne of Denmark (wife of James I.) brought
with her into England a quantity of furs and some
" girdles of aider downe " ; and we have a portrait
of her in hunting costume, with a fur-edged hat of
Tyrolese shape.
The elegant costume of Charles I.'s reign was
54 FURS AND
not of a nature to admit of embellishments, save
on State occasions, of fur; but in that of Charles
II. an effort was made to revive the trade, which,
it seems, was then in a languishing state. The
furriers, or "skinners" as they were called, of
London, had their principal place of business in
and about St. Mary Axe, near the Hall of their
Guild, and where their successors are still to be
found. 1
The great painters, Raphael, Titian, Holbein,
Georgoine, Tintoretto, Peter Porbus and Rembrandt,
devoted themselves in a particular manner to the
art of reproducing with the brush the beautiful
varieties of furs included in the noble costume of
the period. Everybody remembers, who has once
visited Rome, the wonderful picture of the "Violinist,"
i The furriers' trade in old Paris was one of the most
important, and, indeed, was the sixth among the six great
arts et metiers, with "halls" or special guilds. They were
known as Pelletiers, or " pelters," because they dealt in pelts,
and also haubaniers, from a tax or hauban which they paid
annually direct to the king. Their guild was directed by a
provost or grand master and six under masters, and their
statutes, dating from 1490 to 1678, are still preserved. Very
severe laws compelled them to sell only first-class skins and
furs, and never to mix or pass off old skins for new. Almost
every large city in France had its Pelleterie or fur-market ;
but, at present, the trade is exclusively followed in Paris and
Lyons.
MARY TUDOR.
(By Lucas de Heere. In the possession of the Marquis of Exeter.)
To face page 55.
FUR GARMENTS 55
by Raphael, who is depicted as wearing a fur tippet,
so marvellously painted that one can examine it with
a magnifying glass. Equally well rendered is the
tiger skin in the grand portrait of his mistress, the
Fornarina. All know how dear to the artistic eye
of Rembrandt was a handsome fur coat or cap, and
how tenderly he elaborated the shading of every
undulation of the surface of his sables. In France
fur was always greatly esteemed, and at a very
early date the lower orders ornamented their gowns
with the skins of cats, lambs, squirrels and foxes,
not forgetting, by the way, the wolf, always a
favourite skin on account of its beauty, and in
former times this ferocious animal was only too
common in every part of the country. As else-
where, the nobility favoured those costly furs,
which have been noticed in the account of the
English costumes of the Tudor period.
Even the fairies, by the way, in French legendary
lore wore ermine, and in the Lai de Lanval the fairy
queen appears in an ermine cloak.
Under Louis XIV., Madame de Maintenon tried
to render fur once again fashionable after a lapse of
nearly a century, but in vain. She, however, usually
wore a high border of ermine to her petticoat, and
had the trimmings of her dress made of the "royal
56 FURS AND
fur " principally to indicate her quasi-royal position
as the Morganatic consort of the Grand Monarque.
The waxen effigy of Queen Mary II., pre-
served together with that of her vicious little
Consort, William III. in that curious repository
of such-like relics in Westminster Abbey, repre-
sents her as an exceedingly tall woman, wearing
a costume of remarkable elegance, richly trimmed
with fur. Her Majesty was a luxurious woman,
and fond of good living ; and, therefore, fell an easy
victim to small-pox epidemic. Madame de Sevigne
mentions the fact in her letters. " She was but
thirty-three," she writes, " beautiful, and a reigning
Queen; and yet she is dead in three days." The
figure in question still wears its faded finery. The
skirt and bodice are of purple velvet, very long
in the waist; not pointed, but rounded. They are
lined with miniver. The dress is open, and the
ermine trimming is graduated to meet the ermine
stomacher, and is very elegant. The sleeves are
very long, and edged with narrow bands of miniver
or ermine, without tails. The head-dress, which is
exceedingly high, is in a dilapidated condition, and
consists of three rows of curls, among which strings
of pearls were originally twisted. Fortunately this
singular relic of a custom which lasted for ages,
THE EMPRESS JOSEPHINE.
(From a Miniature by Isabey.
To face page 57.
FUR GARMENTS 57
and which rendered the wax effigy the chief object
at a public funeral, is carefully preserved. Strange
to relate, among the waxen figures in the West-
minster collection is one pertaining to this century
that of Nelson, dressed even as he was in life.
The numerous portraits of Queen Anne, and of
the ladies of her Court, are not remarkable for the
fur included among their objets de luxe. There is,
however, a fine Knoller representing Anne wearing a
brown satin gown, edged with sable. The Queens
of the House of Hanover were particularly fond of
narrow stripes of ermine, possibly to emphasise their
regal state ; but I do not remember a single por-
trait of any one of them with any other fur. The
hanging sleeves affected by Queen Charlotte are
often seen to be lined with black - tailed ermine,
and there is a good portrait of Queen Adelaide
with an ermine tippet. The Duchess of Kent, too,
is represented as wearing a round-fashioned tippet
of ermine. Her Majesty's coronation robes were
magnificently trimmed with ermine, and must have
produced a great effect, especially at her corona-
tion, if we may judge by Challon's picture, and by
the numerous descriptions of that never-to-be-for-
gotten and as the Duke of Wellington expressed
it "blessed scene" which inaugurated her most
glorious and progressive reign.
58 FURS AND
At the French Court, under Louis XV. and
Louis XVI., fur was not much worn, except as
garniture or trimming. A famous portrait of Madame
de Pompadour, by Boucher, represents her wearing
a rich velvet gown, edged with some dark, loose
fur; and there is a noble picture at Versailles of
Marie Antoinette in a velvet dress of the deepest
green, handsomely trimmed with sable. The un-
happy Queen wears on her head a broad-brimmed
hat, with a sable tail on it, fixed by a jewel. Some
of Reynolds' and Gainsborough's fair ladies wear
long boas, and one or two the noble Duchess of
Ancaster (by Reynold's) at Houghton, for instance
wear ermine-lined cloaks. Still, although not at
all neglected, fur was little worn from 1700 to 1800.
Early, however, in this year, fur was once more in
favour, and those extraordinary pumpkin - shaped
muffs, nearly a yard long, the astounding high
collars and constrictor - like " boas," worn by our
grandfathers and mothers, can be studied in the
fashion-books of those days. The charming Josephine
had a particular affection for ermine, and in most of
her portraits she appears wearing an edging of this
fur to her very narrow skirt-gowns and long trains.
FUR GARMENTS 59
CHAPTER X
The fur trade in history The Hudson Bay Company
Astor The Rocky Mountain Fur Company Pierre
Chouteau Martin and Francis Bates Statistics.
THE earliest record of a purely English Fur
Trading Company was in 1578, when an expert
was sent out to Newfoundland, " to seek for furs,"
which led to the first settlement of that important
colony. The English only sent out fifty sail, so
that they found themselves in a minority with the
Spanish, who had over a hundred, and the French
seventy. The British fleet returned with "a great
many skins." From that time we have maintained
intimate relationship with Newfoundland. In 1670,
Prince Rupert founded another company, to trade
for furs in the Hudson Bay, and, if possible, to open
up a passage to the South Seas. This company
erected a few forts, but does not appear to have
flourished. Later, in 1673, another company was
formed, and regarded with greater favour, as its
object was to obtain furs by "our own exertions,
and not through those of the Russians."
6o FURS AND
Notwithstanding our efforts, the American fur
trade remained virtually in the hands of the French
until late in the last century. They further secured
it by re-erecting, in 1773, a fort at Niagara. It was
not until the conquest of Canada that we were firmly
established in the great fur regions, and became
really prominent as fur traders.
For many centuries the Baltic ports were the
great depots for the trade, the furs being brought
thither from , Livonia, Sweden, Norway, Northern
and North-eastern Russia, and later also from Siberia
by caravans which deposit them in the great market
towns of Moscow and Nishni Novgorod.
The discovery of the American Continent, however,
soon changed the current of this traffic, for though
sables and ermines still come from Russia, Siberia
and Asia Minor, yet the virgin forests and waters
of America furnish countless beavers, rich sables,
the pine and stone martens, the beautiful mink, lynx,
badger, racoon, the choicest white and black fox, the
cross, blue red and white fox, the seal, and sea otter,
the opossum, the bison, the black and grisly bear,
besides others too numerous to mention. The fur
trade was, however, until within 150 years ago, almost
entirely monopolised by three or four companies.
The Dutch East India Company was first in the
BEAR.
(Ursus arctos.)
To face page 61.
FUR GARMENTS 61
field, and carried on a gigantic trade in furs with
the trading posts of New Amsterdam (New York),
Beaverwyck (Albany), and one or two points on the
Delaware River, as well as several points on the
coasts of Maine from 1609 to 1684. The French
very soon established themselves in the same traffic
in Canada and farther north and west, their chain
of posts and trading houses at one time extending
from Hudson's Bay to New Orleans, and nearly all
being actively engaged in the fur trade. A class
of half-bred voyageuvs and covdeurs de bois grew up in
this traffic, who were and are to this day, skilful
and successful huntsmen and trappers, but at the
same time terrible vagabonds.
When the British Government had by wars and
treaties succeeded to the possession of most of this
region, the famous Hudson's Bay Company (chartered
in 1660) took possession of these northern hunting fields.
For almost 200 years this great Company flourished, and
monopolised the traffic in fur. It had for a time a for-
midable rival in the North- West Company, established
in 1790. This latter Company in 1803, erected trading
factories on the Pacific Coast, and in 1808 John Jacob
Astor founded the American Fur Company, with its
lines of posts across the continent ; by this means
laying the corner stone of that gigantic fortune, which
62 FURS AND
has made his descendants one of the richest families
in the world. Mr. Astor transferred the Pacific Fur
Company to the North- West Company, whereby he
dealt the death blow to the old Hudson's Bay Company,
and confined his operations to the regions of the Rocky
Mountains. Many adventurers, French as well as
English, followed in his steps, amongst them being
the brothers Auguste and Pierre Chouteau, who
formed the Missouri Fur Company, which prospered
greatly in 1814, but was dissolved in consequence
of the war with Great Britain. In 1827 the Rocky
Mountain Fur Company was formed, which sent
trappers to the Pacific coast, in which expeditions it
is calculated that at least forty out of every hundred
men perished. The Chouteau business was sold
to Martin and Francis Bates in 1859, after which
date the American fur trade became more widely
diffused in the hands of many individuals, and although
much larger aggregate amounts are collected yearly
in this traffic, the colossal fortunes made in former
times are unlikely ever to be created again. They
ceased with the fraudulent monopolies, which are im-
possible in our more advanced civilisation.
By far the largest quantities of the furs now
generally used are brought from North America, and
were, at one time, at the sole disposal of the Hudson's
FUR GARMENTS 63
Bay Company, which held a similar position to that
of the East India Company, and by their charter
possessed a trading monopoly, employed their own
agents to traffic with the Indians, their own army of
hunters and trappers, and their own officers, who,
although they did not command actual soldiers as the
officers of the East India Company did, held fortified
" stations " over a vast extent of territory, and may
be said to have ruled the country, and brought the
natives under an organised system of control.
The region under the commercial authority of
the Hudson's Bay Company, where it exercises abso-
lute trading privileges, extends from the foot of the
Rocky Mountains, along the parallel of 49 N. latitude
to the head of Lake Superior, and thence in a north-
westerly direction to the coast of Labrador and the
Atlantic. Its entire length is about 2,600 miles, and
its average breadth 1,460 miles. The area covered
by this vast tract has been computed at 3,060,000
square miles.
A charter was granted to the Company by
Charles II., in 1665, for a term of 200 years, and
in 1849 a further grant was made by the British
Government, by which the Company had rights for
five years over Vancouver Island and the adjacent
land on the Pacific Coast, the object of this conces-
64 FURS AND
sion being to afford facilities for the formation of
a colony of British emigrants. This colony received
the name of British Columbia.
On the expiration of the original charter in 1865,
the Hudson's Bay Company was permitted to retain
its monopoly in the fur country, the climate of the
greater portion of the territory being too severe to
admit of the cultivation of the land or the formation
of a regular colony.
The whole system of obtaining furs is now
changed. The trappers and hunters are no longer
ignorant savages, ready to sell the skins which they
have secured with toil and peril for beads, or blankets,
or tobacco, representing only a small fractional part
of the true value. They no longer barter on the
principle that a musket is worth as many skins as
will, when piled close, be the height of the weapon
from stock to muzzle ; and there are, therefore, no
enormously long-barrelled pieces manufactured for the
North American market.
The principles of extended commerce have regu-
lated prices to definite market values, even between
the hunter and the first consignee, and the result is
that there should be no fancy prices for furs in the
English warehouse, except under very exceptional
circumstances indeed. The periodical collections of
FOX.
(Caius vjdpes.)
To face page 65.
FUR GARMENTS 65
furs from the Hudson's Bay territory are brought to
London and are sold by auction, the principal sales
taking place in January and March each year.
Few persons, except those having business re-
lations with the fur trade, have any conception of
its magnitude. The following is a summary of furs
sold in the spring of 1895, by the Hudson's Bay
Company and others, by public auction :
BEAR 9.992
BEAVER . - - -'-* 44.J5 1
BADGER 2,056
ERMINE 7.250
FISHER 3.573
SILVER Fox - 670
BLUE Fox - 69
RED Fox \ ; ? - > 12,850
WHITE Fox - 4,898
CROSS Fox - 3.165
KITT Fox - 134
LYNX - 20,258
MARTEN ,^ -', .- 105,266
MINK 554
MUSK Ox - 748
MUSQUASH - - - , 674,811
OTTER 7,462
RABBIT 66,868
RACOON 740
SKUNK 8,828
WOLF 1,442
WOLVERINE - 634
Enormous as this supply is, however, it is insig-
5
66
FURS AND
nificant in comparison with the vast quantities of
furs imported by private enterprise from the United
States, and from Canada, New Brunswick, Nova
Scotia and other British Provinces in North America.
The collection offered at auction in London during
the current year includes :
BEAVER
BEAR
BADGER
CIVET CAT -
COMMON CAT
CHINCHILLA
ERMINE
FISHER
FITCH
SILVER Fox -
BLUE Fox -
RED Fox
WHITE Fox -
GREY Fox -
CROSS Fox -
KITT Fox -
JAPANESE Fox
GREBE
KOLINSKY
LYNX
MONGOLIAN LAMB -
CHINESE LAMB
MARTEN
MINKS
MOUFFLON -
MUSK Ox -
20,277
28,273
11,250
20,769
18,822
5L783
7,400
3.351
1,190
1,503
4.458
111,873
77,705
47,7 2 5
5,460
L578
59,561
12,048
13,34
15,814
16,995
1,114
114,281
377,219
2,432
170
FUR GARMENTS 67
RED MUSQUASH - - 2,481,349
BLACK MUSQUASH - - 58,068
NUTRIA 660
OTTER I 4 > 395
AMERICAN OPOSSUM -. 432,871
AUSTRALIAN OPOSSUM - 1,087,230
RABBIT - 14,500
RACOON - 743,598
SEA OTTER - 1,221
RUSSIAN SABLE : ~ . - 29,269
SKUNK - 745,779
WOLF - 44,679
WOLVERINE - 1,308
WOMBAT - - 92,025
WALLABY - - I0 5358
The mystery of the fur trade has disappeared before
the developments of commerce, just as the mystery of
the fur country has diminished by the enterprise of
travellers and explorers, who have made much of it
familiar to the readers of books of travel. Of course,
there is still a frequent pretence of mystery, when
charlatans and unscrupulous dealers, with a desire
to get rid of their stock or accumulations, palm
off inferior or ill-dressed skins upon their customers,
or upon those who may happen to be attracted by
so-called " bargains," as many purchasers know to
their cost, and fancy prices are often demanded and
obtained ; but, in truth, a lady should find little
more difficulty in computing the cost of a fur cloak
52
68 FURS AND
or mantle, than in assessing the value of a silk
dress if she only goes the right way about it and
declines to deal with any but reliable and re-
spectable furriers.
SQUIRRELS.
To face page 69.
FUR GARMENTS 69
CHAPTER XI
The sable and its history The great fair of Nishni
Novgorod The Russian sable The weasel tribe The
skunk The chinchilla The musk rat The fox
Bearskins.
THE present revival and popularity of the use
of fur clothing and of fur-lined garments has un-
questionably tended to greatly develop the trades
which produce the supply necessary to meet the
increasing demand, and has consequently stimulated
also the ingenuity and art of adapting, preparing
and perfecting the remarkable variety of skins which
now find their way to our markets.
When captured, the animals are at once skinned,
and the skins hung to dry, either in the sun or near
a fire. If the drying process be thoroughly accom-
plished, no harm is likely to happen to the pelts
when packed and sent to a distance. Should they,
however, be improperly dried, or become damp on
the voyage, the hair falls off, and the pelts conse-
quently become useless.
Arriving in this country, mostly from very remote
70 FURS AND
lands, in their rough state, the skins of the variety
of animals which supply us with the furs used in
the furrier's trade are classed under one denomina-
tion : "Peltry."
The first business of the consignee, on the arrival
of the pelts at their destination, is to carefully sort
them and classify them in order of size and quality.
The next stage in the preparation of the skins con-
sists in slightly damping and then leathering them,
but for finer furs, such as sable, the same object is
attained by trampling. Then they are fleshed. This
is done on a large half-moon shaped knife. All the
fleshy parts must be carefully shaved off, till the
skin becomes as smooth as a glove. They are dried,
and finally cleaned. The skins are put into a
wooden drum, covered with sheet iron ; a quantity
of rosewood or cedar sawdust is put with them.
The drum is heated to a certain degree, and must
be kept turning all the time, so that the skins
get well scoured. They remain in the drum till they
are clean, and when taken out are well beaten, and
are then ready for use.
Amongst the pelts thus imported, there are,
however, a large number intended not for fur, but
merely for felt. Only, however, a soft kind of hair
is capable of being felted. If the fur of such
FUR GARMENTS 71
animals as the hare, rabbit, beaver, and of many
other rodents (gnawing animals) be placed under a
microscope, it will be discovered that its hairs are
covered with minute serratures, which, in order to
convert them into felt, must be entangled and matted
together. It should be observed, however, that these
animals are supplied with two kinds of hair the
external, which is long and coarse, and which will
not " felt," and the shorter, finer and more abundant,
which grows close to the skin, and 'which, on the
contrary, is easily felted. To prepare the skins for
this latter process, the long hairs are first removed.
Being of no use to the hatter, they are sold to up-
holsterers for stuffing chairs and sofas. The under
hair, or fur, strictly so called, is then cut from the
skin, and presents a light, fleecy mass, which, being
tossed about by means of a vibrating string, becomes
matted together and formed into a thin sheet of soft
felt. The process goes on, and one thin sheet is
pressed upon another, until the felt becomes of the
required strength and thickness.
I will now turn the attention of my readers to
the furs, properly so called, in use in commerce, and
briefly relate the history and peculiarities of the various
principal fur-bearing animals. I have, in the earlier
part of this work, endeavoured to trace the history
72 FUXS AND
of fur garments, &c., from the earliest period, and the
ermine and other royal furs have received special
notice. In the following pages I intend to give some
idea of the extent of the fur trade, and, as I have
already observed, of the principal animals whose
skins are considered sufficiently handsome to make
them of commercial value.
The sable, which is the most esteemed of all furs,
seems not to have been unknown in Europe until
a somewhat later period than the ermine. Its true
home appears to be the most northern part of Asia,
to which commerce was not extended until a com-
paratively recent date ; and some conjecture that it
was an acquaintance with its fine furs that induced
the Russians to undertake the conquest of Siberia.
The identity of this little animal has been much
disputed by naturalists, by whom it has scarcely
ever been seen, and who are not agreed as to the
characteristics which distinguish it from various
martens. It would appear, however, that it is about
the same size as the marten, to which I believe it
is closely allied. Its fur is of a deeper colour, and
its toes are (during winter, at least) completely clad
in woolly hair, a provision adapted to its habitation
in the more frozen mountains. The painful chase
of this animal is most pertinaciously persevered in
FUR GARMENTS 73
during the depth of winter, amidst all the terrors of
frightful snows, which might well daunt the hardiest
andj^bravest hunters.
Russian sable is the most valuable of furs. The
darkest and finest skins come from the Gakutsky
district ; they are the most esteemed, and will
fetch from three to forty guineas each. A robe
lined with this fur has sometimes been worth 1,000
guineas, the fair at Nishni Novgorod being the
great depot for all Siberian skins. Good sable tails,
which have of late been so fashionable, realise a
high price in the market ; and the tips of those
of inferior quality are carefully preserved for manu-
facturing into brushes and pencils for artists.
The sable, as already stated, is closely connected
with the marten ; in fact, in the trade, the American
sable is called marten. 1
i Hamlet : " I'll have a suit of sables." Sir Thomas Ham-
mer turned "I'll have a suit of sables' 1 into "I'll have a suit of
ermine," and Warburton thinks it extremely absurd that Hamlet
and the devil should both go into mourning. Neither Hammer
nor Warburton perceived the latent irony in Hamlet's reply.
Ophelia says, " His father has been dead twice two months,"
and he replies, " So long ? Nay, then, let the devil wear black,
for I'll have a suit of sables." Robes of sable were amongst
the most costly articles of dress, and by the Statute of Apparel
24 Henry VIII., it was ordained that none under the degree of
an earl should use sables. This fur, as is well known, is not
74 FURS AND
The raw skins of the common American variety
range in price from eight to thirty shillings each,
and those of Hudson's Bay from twenty to seventy
shillings each.
Russian sable is mostly skinned over the mouth,
without any incision being made in the body, and the
feet and tail are left as part of the fur, so that no por-
tion of it is lost or injured. The average length of the
body is twelve inches, and of the tail about six inches,
so that the cost of a sable cloak or coat is very
considerable. These furs, however, are largely used
for trimmings and " sets." In any form sables have
a very beautiful appearance. The natural colour of
the Hudson's Bay sable is a warm brown, with a
black ; and it is difficult to know how it became connected with
mournful association, as in Spencer : " Grief in all sable sorrow-
fully clad." In heraldry sable means black; and, according to
Beacham, the name is derived from the fur. Sables then were
costly and magnificent ; but not essentially the habiliments of
sorrow, through they had some slight association with mournful
ideas. If Hamlet had said, " Nay, let the devil wear black, for
I'll have a suit of ermine," he would merely have said, " Let the
devil be in mourning for I'll be fine." But as it is he says,
" Let the devil wear the real colours of grief, but I'll be mag-
nificent in a garb that only has a facing of something like grief."
Hamlet would wear the suit a Ben Johnson's haberdasher wove.
Would you not laugh to see a great councillor of state in a flat
cap, with his trunk hose and hobby horse cloak, and yonder
haberdasher in a velvet gown trimmed with sable ?
FUR GARMENTS 75
yellowish brown at the sides, and a darker tint along
the back; the Russian skins are more delicate,
finer in hair, and much darker in hue the prevail-
ing colour being ashen-brown, merging into a peculiar
dim black towards the back.
The tails of the sables make superb garniture for
seal or velvet cloaks, but even in this capacity a set
of real Russian trimmings can scarcely be sold for less
than ^"50, and will range as high as "200, though
the American sable tail sets, which are often nearly
as effective, may be bought at a much more moderate
price.
Russian sable is the most highly esteemed fur in
this country for its softness and extreme beauty. On
account of its scarcity in our markets, we are glad to
avail ourselves of the supply of a sable, the Pekan, or
Woodshock, furnished by the Hudson's Bay Com-
pany, which is considered to be very nearly equal to
Russian sable in beauty, and the 50,000 to 100,000
skins thus annually supplied are scarcely distinguish-
able, except by an expert, from those of the genuine
or Russian sable.
Besides these, from 60,000 to 70,000 skins of
Tartar sable are annually imported. These are of a
bright yellow colour (much used, undyed, in the
East), but are mostly dyed to the same tint as the
76 FURS AND
Russian sable, and with the pine, beech, and stone
martens brought from Northern Europe and from
Canada, to the vast number of 200,000 to 300,000 a
year, a large proportion of which are also dyed.
I must not omit to mention, in connection with
sable and marten, another fur which, if not so highly
esteemed, is, nevertheless, very useful as well as
beautiful, and one supplied by a small animal of the
same family viz., the mink. This little beast, called
also sometimes the vison weasel (Vison lutreola, or
Mustek vison), frequents the banks of waters in the
far-away northern regions of America. It feeds on
frogs and crayfish, and has its feet slightly palmated
or webbed between the toes. Its coat is of a reddish
brown with a white spot on the point of the chin, ex-
tending occasionally in a narrow line down the throat.
The skins most in demand are those of a fine
dark colour, bearing a slaty or smoky tinge, which is
the hue most admired. This fur was at one time so
much in request, because of its resemblance to sable,
that an attempt was made to establish minkeries for
breeding the animal. It was found, however, that the
fur of the tame mink had so deteriorated as to be
comparatively useless. Mink is found in abundance
in all parts of the Hudson's Bay territory and in Nova
Scotia.
FUR GARMENTS 77
Mink skins are brought over from Canada to the
number of nearly half a million, and sold at the
annual sale of the Hudson's Bay Company and
others, in London, in the month of March. This sale
is always attended by great numbers of foreigners,
who buy the skins for the Leipsic market, whence
they are distributed throughout the European Con-
tinent. A considerable number, however, remain
in England, and while the colour is very nearly
that of sable, the fur can easily be distinguished
by its being shorter and more flossy.
There are many other fur-coated animals of the
same (the weasel) family used in commerce. Fore-
most amongst these are the polecat, or fitch, and the
skunk. The former is common in Europe, the finest
animals being found in Scotland. About 120,000
skins come into the market annually, the greater
part going to the Continent and America, where
they are much esteemed, only a few being used
in England. It should be mentioned here that this
fur is usually known in trade as " Fitch."
The skunk abounds in North America, south of
Lat. 57, being found principally in Pennsylvania
and New Jersey. It has a broad, fleshy body, short
legs, a wide forehead, small eyes, short, round ears,
and long claws, like those of a badger, on the fore feet.
78 FURS AND
The fur is soft and very thick ; the hair on
the tail is long and very coarse. The cheeks and
under parts of the body are black; a white line
from the tip of the nose widens considerably to the
back of the head ; here it narrows, and, passing over
the shoulders, divides, and becoming much broader,
runs along the sides, and continues along the tail. An
egg-shaped black space is thus left upon the back,
and the under part of the tail is black also. Its
claws are very strong, and, unlike those of the sable,
marten, &c., are suited for digging. It lives upon
mice and frogs in summer, laying itself up in a hole
and seldom going abroad through the winter. Of
the skins sent to our market, * many thousands are
exported ; so that, with the present demand there
is for this favourite fur, its market value does not
decrease. It may be mentioned that Americans
often call it black marten.
There is an elegant little animal (the chinchilla)
whose coat furnishes us with a lovely fur, the softest
and most delicate in existence, and the most fashion-
able up to date.
Belonging to the family of rodents, quite distinct
from those which have thus far been mentioned, it is
found in an entirely different region, Peru and Chili,
the best skins being exported from Valparaiso and
FUR GARMENTS 79
Buenos Ayres. In form and character it approaches
nearer to the hare or rabbit than to the mouse tribe.
Its habitat is high up in the Andes. The variety
yielding the best kind of fur (the chinchilla Lanigera)
is described as of a clear grey colour above, passing
almost into white on the under parts. It is about nine
inches long ; its tail about two inches ; it has large
black eyes, and large, roundish, nearly naked ears, full
moustaches twice the length of its head, some of the
hairs of which are jet black, others white. The
chinchilla is subterranean in its habits, living chiefly
in holes in the rocks, and though somewhat shy,
is of a mild disposition. The earliest history we
have of Peru mentions the use made by the Incas
of the fur of this beautiful animal, the hair of
which they wove into a kind fc of cloth, whilst the
skins, with their soft fur, yielded them a most luxu-
rious lining for the mantles of their chiefs and
nobles. The skins themselves are thin and tender,
requiring delicate manipulation. Perhaps its more
fragile texture, combined with the high price it
usually fetches, renders it less fit for common use
than the stronger kinds of fur. There are many
other rodents, whose skins are prized in greater or
lesser degree which find their way in vast numbers
to our fur markets, whence they are eagerly bought, to
8o FURS AND
be manufactured either into luxurious garments and
rugs, or it may be into hats. It is indeed marvellous
in what myriads these little skins are supplied to
our demand. From recent reports we find that
above 3,000,000 squirrel skins, many of which used
to be dyed sable colour, are shipped yearly for
England ; above 3,250,000 musquash, or musk rats,
from North America ; 1,500,000 opossums from Aus-
tralia and America; besides a million and a half
Russian white hare-skins, which are of superior
quality, to say nothing of the many thousands
which Germany, Greece and Sicily send us ; add
to these 60,000 to 70,000 beavers from North
America, 100,000 skins of coypou or nutria from
South America, 150,000 marmots, 265,000 of varie-
ties of fox (of which more anon), as well as
50,000 wolves and 30,000 bears, a certain number
of musk-ox skins, not to mention, at least, 22,000
American otters, 40,000 cats, and a considerable
number of African monkeys, and we should seem to
have such an array of skins as would afford an
enormous supply of clothing impervious to wind and
cold, and which at first sight one would imagine
could scarcely find purchasers; but yet there
seems to be no over-supply, and were it not for
some stringency in the regulations for the taking
THE COMMON SQUIRREL.
(Sciums vulgaris.)
To face page 81.
FUR GARMENTS 81
of many of the animals, which, to a certain extent,
prevents it, we might reasonably look forward to
the speedy extirpation of whole species.
As the fox affords us several varieties, some of
which rank amongst our choicest and most costly
furs, they must not be passed over without special
notice. It is not from the common European fox,
but from various American and Siberian species that
our supply is derived. A red American fox (Canis
fulrus), not often used in our country, affords a
valuable fur ; about 120,000 skins a year of this
animal pass through the English market to Turkey,
fetching often a higher price than those of' the
white or the grey fox.
The species of fox whose fur is most esteemed
in our own country is the beautiful black or
silver fox (Canis argentatus), single skins of which
have been sold in London for "150. The late
Emperor of Russia exhibited in London a pelisse
made of the necks of this fox, which was valued at
"3,500. It inhabits the northern parts of Europe,
Asia and America, and answers well to the descrip-
tion of both the names given it, its beautiful and
copious fur being of a rich glossy black, whilst the
longer exterior hairs are of a silvery white, lending
a very elegant appearance to the animal. It is
6
82 FURS AND
mostly used for trimming by the luxurious Russian
nobility.
There is an iron-yellow fox, found in Tartary,
sometimes called the Cossack fox, of which 40,000
or 50,000 are imported into England, and, singularly
enough, showing the eccentricities of trade, are re-
sold for the Russian and Turkish markets.
The blue fox, a very rare and exceptionally
picturesque animal, is obtained solely from the
Hudson's Bay Territory and Greenland. Its ex-
quisite fur is not to be excelled by that of any
other species. It was the favourite fur of Catherine
de Medicis, Queen of France, and of which she
possessed a very costly and most elaborately-
trimmed mantle. It was at that time the most
highly-prized fur. It makes very handsome trim-
mings, boas, and muffs.
Japan, which is up-to-date in most things, not
excepting furs, is sending to this country about
60,000 foxes a year. They are a smaller kind, of a
brownish tint, and are used chiefly for trimmings
and collars.
The white, or Arctic, fox forms a very beautiful
lining for opera cloaks, and is one of the most
effective furs for ornamental purposes. A beautiful
colour is now imparted to this lovely skin, giving it
FUR GARMENTS 83
much the appearance of the more costly blue fox.
There are, also, silver grey fox furs from Virginia
and elsewhere, which are of smaller value, though
handsome and useful, especially for rugs.
The red Hudson's Bay fox yields a thick, soft
fur of a sandy colour, very fine in quality, and
excellent either for fur robe or rug, which may
usually be bought for from six to fifteen guineas,
of good quality and large size.
Reference has already been made to bear skins ;
and it may be worth while to note in passing that
over 25,000 skins of the black bear are annually
supplied" by British North America, and are mostly
used for boas and trimmings ; the fur being soft and
long, adapts itself for that purpose better than any
other. A good many, also, are bought for the
accoutrements of our military, most notably the
various regiments of foot-guards and the Honour-
able Artillery Company. The cub bear skins
are more expensive than the full-grown ones,
on account of their softness. Skins of brown,
grizzly and Polar bears, are also imported in small
numbers. A good many Russian bears are used also,
but, being very coarse, are made mostly into coach-
men's capes a fashion (a sensible one) which has
made considerable headway in London and other
62
84 FURS AND
large cities, affording great protection to these men,
exposed as they often are to very inclement
weather, and much subject in consequence to bron-
chitis and other inflammatory diseases.
FUR GARMENTS 85
CHAPTER XII
The racoon Astrachan Sea otter The Thibet and
Mongol lamb Wolverine The platypus.
AMONGST the miscellaneous skins which reach
our market should be mentioned about 750,000
racoons, from North America, at least two-thirds
of which, with those of a small number of badgers
and gluttons, are re-exported to Leipsic, and thence
to Russia for men's coat linings.
The racoon (Procyon lotor) is found in North
America, and also in some of the West Indian
Islands. It lives principally in the hollows of trees,
and in its wild state is very savage, committing great
slaughter among wild or domesticated birds of all
kinds. In captivity, however, it will live upon bread,
milk, eggs, &c. Its specific name (lotor or washer)
is said to be derived from its most marked peculiarity,
the habit of plunging its dry food into water before
eating it. It has a great liking for crabs and other
Crustacea, and is remarkably expert at opening
oysters, an article of food for which it shows a great
partiality.
86 FURS AND
Another skin must be mentioned, which has of
late been much in fashion in England Persian lamb.
It consists of the skins of newly-born lambs, the
curl of which is artificially preserved by wrapping
up immediately to keep it from contact with the air.
The natural colour of this fur is a rusty black. It
is dyed black, and has been used from time im-
memorial as an article of dress, especially for head-
dresses in Persia.
These, however, are not sold in the raw state
in England, but are taken once a year to the fair
at Nishni Novgorod by the Tartars. They are all
sold to Leipsic merchants, who are most skilful in
dressing and dyeing them. It can be safely said
that Leipsic supplies the whole world with Astra -
chans and Persians.
The Thibet and Mongolian lamb, also some
Chinese lamb skins, are very fashionable. Some
35,000 skins were sold here by auction last year, but
quite as many were sold direct by Hong Kong
agents. They are a beautifully-white silky fur, and
make pretty evening wraps, but are mostly dyed
black, and used for trimmings, boas, and muffs.
The sea otter (Latax lutris) is a distinct branch
of the lutra, or otter, species, haunting sea-washed
rocks, and living mostly in the water, its food being
FUR GARMENTS 87
fish. It is not formed for making its abode on land,
as its long body and very short hinder feet do not
allow it to make much progress. To the great
sorrow of the fur trading world, these valuable animals
are getting scarcer every year. In 1889 the supply
was 4,000 skins, which number has been reduced
every year, 1895 only bringing 1,222 ; and, hunted
as they are at present, the sea otter will soon rank
among the extinct species. A single skin was sold
for ^"225 here, at last March sales. It is an in-
habitant of both coasts of the North Pacific, its
chief haunts being Alaska, west coast of Canada,
and Vancouver Islands. On the Asiatic side it is
found in Kamtchatka.
The sea otter fur is delightfully soft and fine,
varying in colour from dark chestnut to deep
brown, according to the age of the animal. It is
a great pity that it should be so little used in
England.
The " shubes," or large coats worn in Russia
during the sledge journeys, are often effectively
trimmed with sea otter. It has lately been exten-
sively used for ladies, worn as garnitures for seal
mantles.
The wolverine (Gulos luscus) is obtained from the
Arctic regions and the Hudson's Bay territories.
88 FURS AND
A portion of the skin is so fine, and of such a rich
hue, that when well worked it has much the ap-
pearance of sable tail ; and as the fur wears ex-
ceedingly well, and is moderate in price, it is in
great favour as a fashionable trimming, as well
as for carriage rugs.
The ocelot is found in Paraguay, and has a very
handsome skin, with spots like those on the coat of
the leopard ; but it is much thinner in the pelt than
the leopard skin, besides being more silky.
Ocelot is in request for carriage rugs and for
coverlets.
The platypus ornithorhyncus, a rare and exceed-
ingly remarkable animal, is discovered in New
Holland, and has been described by naturalists as
the connecting link between bird and beast. The
strange peculiarities of the creature are that its
young are produced from eggs like birds, but
the female parent afterwards suckles them, after
the manner of mammals. The platypus has a beak,
resembling that of a duck, and is web-footed, the
male being armed with a formidable and venomous
spur.
The fur of the platypus resembles that of the
otter, but is usually more glossy in appearance.
The beaver (Castor fiber) needs little description,
FUR GARMENTS 89
though the accounts of the habits of the animal and
the mode of trapping it are exceedingly interesting.
The demand for beaver fur was once enormous, till
silk plush put it out of the field, in the manufacture
of hats.
It is still valuable as a fur adaptable for collars,
facings and linings for gentlemen's coats, as well as
for muffs, trimmings, &c., and is used extensively
in cold climates. It has lately become one of the
most fashionable furs for ladies' wear.
A very beautiful and effective trimming, known
as silvered beaver, is produced by the elaborate
process of inserting the silver hairs from the badger
into the beaver skins, by means of a barbed needle,
which carries each hair separately through half the
thickness of the pelt, where it is securely fastened.
The musk-rat, or musquash (Fiber zibethicus),
comes among the furs chiefly used for trimming. It
may be dyed to imitate mink, to which it has a
very similar appearance, when its pale slaty colour
has been converted to a warm brown tint, with a
" topping " of darker hue on the back. Some of
the musquash furs are, however, nearly black, and
the best quality make very handsome trimmings at
a moderate cost.
Excellent linings for cloaks and gentlemen's coats
90 JFURS AND
may be obtained from musquash at very moderate
prices.
The grey squirrel has always been, and seems
likely to remain, a favourite fur for lining and
trimming. The best is the Siberian, the lustre
and tone of which is exceedingly beautiful.
Much skill is required in matching the skins to
form a lining for a large cloak or other article of
dress, since the back of the fur is the most valuable
portion, and has to be used for the more expensive
purposes ; while the under portion, light grey and
white, is reserved for the less costly linings. The
finest linings are manufactured at Weissenfeldt, in
Germany.
The opossum (Didelyhys virginiana) called " Vir-
ginian a " comes from Virginia and other parts of
America, and is a long fur of a mottled or greyish
colour, and when dyed is much used for trimmings,
capes, &c. The beautiful rich brown long fur comes
from Tasmania, and is chiefly used for rugs ; but
the variety of hue makes it very attractive for orna-
mental linings or trimmings. The grey opossum
is chiefly from Australia, and is considerably cheaper
than the Tasmanian variety.
The bear (Ursus arctos) can scarcely be called a
fur to be worn as a portion of dress in this country,
H ^
3 a
FUR GARMENTS 91
except the skins of the brown or the black bear-
cubs, which are decidedly handsome as trimmings,
and are used for linings and collars of the Russian
shube, or sledge-coat.
The best quality of coachmen's capes are made
of the commoner and coarser bearskin, and also
of the racoon and of Chinese goatskin. The fur of
the cub-bear is expensive, but it is much in
use.
The small brown bears of Russia and the Rocky
Mountains are also valuable for their fur; other
skins, like those of the Arctic wolf, and the less
valuable prairie wolf, are used chiefly for rugs
the skins of the grizzly bears being frequently con-
verted into driving aprons.
The wild cat (Felis catus), of which there are
several varieties, is of a pale grey colour, and is
large, strong, and exceedingly fierce. The black
cat, or genet, though coarse, was at one time of value,
and is still admired for its black colour. The tail of
the black cat was once used extensively by the
Polish Jews as ornaments for their caps.
African cat is a very beautifully-spotted fur, of
grey colour, marked with a wavy black. It is chiefly
used for rugs ; but catskins, like dogskins, have
long been in demand for other trades than that of
92 FURS AND
the furrier. It is not easy for an unskilled eye to
distinguish the ordinary wild cat fur from that of the
" harmless necessary " domestic variety, and there
may have been occasions, when this fur was in
demand, upon which a scarcity of skins of a par-
ticular colour has been met by an order upon a
London " fancier." This, however, is a branch of
business which probably survives only in legendary
accounts.
Up to the time of the great Exhibition of 1851,
monkey was an unknown fur ; but some black monkey-
skins attracted the attention of a dealer, and since
that time many thousands of the animals have been
killed by the natives. It has been said by a writer
on the subject, that the negroes, being thus induced
to make war on the monkeys, ceased to make war
among themselves.
The fur of the long-haired monkey makes beau-
tiful muffs, and is greatly esteemed, especially in
the United States.
FUR GARMENTS 93
CHAPTER XIII
The seal : its history Its importance in trade Alaska
The method of capturing seals The process of pre-
paring them Furs in houses as decoration Sarah
Bernhardt and her lion's skin.
I HAVE reserved the sealskin for the last of the
popular furs of our day, because its preparation
is a specialty of English, and pre-eminently of London
workmen.
There are three distinct families, namely, eared
seals, the walruses, and the true seals ; the two last
named are known in the commercial world as hair
seals, and the first named as the fur seals, which
furnish the great bulk of those employed for ladies'
clothing, the fur seal, properly so-called (Genus Otaria).
These animals, which abound on the shores of the
Northern Pacific, off the coasts of Alaska and the
Aluetian Islands, are also found in the Atlantic, but
they descend as far as the South Shetland Isles.
Travellers have spent much time and pains in
observing their character and habits, and they are
94 FURS AND
universally acknowledged to exhibit a high order
of instinct even intelligence. Some of them have
been taught a variety of tricks, to obey the voice
of their master, to beat time to music, and know
when spoken to. One was exhibited recently in
London which was quite as intelligent as a trick dog.
The male, when full grown, which may be said
to be at five or six years of age, measures from six
and a half to seven and a quarter feet from the tip
of the nose to the end of its body, and weighs at
the least 400 Ibs., a stout old seal often as much
as 500 Ibs. This is in the early spring, when they
have accumulated a vast store of fat. Its head
is small in comparison with its thick neck and
shoulders ; the eyes are large and expressive, the
muzzle and jaws about the size and form of those
of a Newfoundland dog, but without the overhanging
lips ; the upper lip bears a long, stiff moustache.
The fore-feet, or flippers, are a pair of dark bluish-
black hands, eight or ten inches broad at their junc-
tion with the body, and fifteen or eighteen inches long.
These have no suggestion of fingers, but the hind
feet, which are longer, have loose, slender, long,
ribbon-like toes, resembling, says a recent American
traveller, " a pair of black kid gloves, flattened out
and shrivelled." The female is a much smaller
FUR GARMENTS 95
animal, about four to four and a half feet in length,
and much more shapely, with a lithe, elastic form.
The head and large blue-black eyes are said to be
exceedingly beautiful, with a gentle and attractive
expression. The young are at first jet-black, chang-
ing when about three months old to a light grey
over-hair, with an under-fur of a soft, light brown
hue. When this new coat has been donned, the
baby seal (or pup, as it is called) takes to the
water for the first time, having first seen the light
at some small islet which has been chosen by the
old seals, and to which they all congregate at the
breeding season for the production of their young.
These places, called rookeries, are annually peopled
by vast multitudes of seals, anjl are the scenes
of many a fierce combat between the old " see-
catchies," as the natives designate the father seals.
The fur seals (Phocidae) certainly rank next in im-
portance to Russian sables, and are altogether un-
rivalled for the purposes to which they are adapted.
The largest numbers of seal furs are taken at Alaska
and Copper Island. Alaska, which may be regarded
as the great fur seal territory, is situated at the
extreme north-west of the American Continent, and
was formerly designated Russian America, having
been sold by Russia to the United States only
96 FURS AND
about fifteen years ago, for the sum of eight million*
dollars.
The American Government granted a lease of
the country, with exclusive trading rights for twenty
years, to a Company of Speculators, at an annual
rental of 50,000 dollars and a duty of two and a half
dollars on every skin exported, at the same time
binding the Company not to capture more than
100,000 seals in any one year. This number has
been restricted, however, since the seal fisheries
question, to about 1,500. Therefore, if the full
complement were to be taken, there would be paid
on each skin a sum of three dollars, or twelve
shillings and sixpence, to which must be added the
expenses incurred in capturing the seals and ex-
porting the skins.
The Alaska sealers, being prohibited from de-
stroying more than a specified number of the animals,
act with a certain amount of discretion, and carefully
abstain from killing the female seals, as, by so
doing, the numbers would sensibly diminish in the
following season. By the absence of this pre-
caution in other places, and notably in the South
Shetland Isles, the species there has been almost
exterminated.
The seals which come from Alaska are of the
FUR GARMENTS 97
most uniformly good quality, and the Alaska seal
may be said to bear the palm for the closeness of
the fur and its great durability ; but some of those
brought from the Shetland Isles command high
prices, because of their rarity and the richness and
length of the fur. The Copper Island skins are
usually looser and lower in the fur than the Alaska,
but in some seasons are very rough and full. The
skins from Robin Island, on the other hand, are
showy in appearance, but do not wear well. Those
from Lobos Island are small, but of great beauty,
and have a velvety appearance, but likewise are not
recommended for wear.
Japanese skins are usually of good uniform
quality, and are very firm and bright. Those from
Australia and New Zealand are remarkably full in
the fur, rich and fine. The skins from Cape Horn,
Patagonia and Falkland Island are mostly of a
much lower description.
The fur of the seal is found to be thickest and
finest in the third and fourth year, and the natives
employ great skill and discrimination in selecting
the animals for " driving." This process is carried
on in June and July, in the very early morning. The
numbers taken are strictly limited by the American
Government, but as the period during which the
7
9 8 FURS AND
killing can be accomplished is very short (the seals
being in prime condition for only 28 or 30 days)
the greatest care and circumspection has to be
used. The herds are driven to the " killing grounds,"
which are situated close to the villages. Here they
are rested until cooled before the slaughtering begins,
for if killed whilst heated, the hair comes off in the
skinning process, and the pelt is thereby lost. The
whole male population of the village then turn out,
dressed in thick flannel shirts, stout pants and
boots. Each man is armed with strong sealing
clubs, which are made for the purpose of oak or
hickory, a stabbing - knife, a skinning - knife, and
a whetstone. At a given signal, the men drive 100
or 150 seals to the spot selected, surround them,
till they are closely huddled together, when the
head man scrutinizes the assembled animals, and
quickly selects those which are either too old or
too young, or otherwise unfit.
From the killing and skinning fields the pelts are
at once taken to a large wooden structure, called
the salt-house. Here they are carefully examined
and laid out one upon another in " kenches," or
deep bins, salt being sprinkled plentifully on the
fleshy side of each pelt, and as each bin is filled
it is closed in with planks. After lying there for
2 1
sa
3 -i
3 S
FUR GARMENTS 99
two or three weeks to "pickle," they are rolled up,
two together, with the hairy parts out, and being
tightly corded, they are ready for shipping.
When the pelts arrive in London they have to
be unpacked and sorted by men experienced in
this kind of work, and are then sold, usually at
public auctions in Mincing Lane, to the brokers
or furriers.
In calculating the value of a raw skin, the trapper
turns it up " the wrong way," so that he may see not
the points only, but the whole depth of the hair,
and note its closeness and fineness. Just in the
same way, in making up a sealskin cloak or other
garment, the tail end of the fur is placed upper-
most. Were it placed the other way, with the head
upward, only the points would be seen ; and instead
of a fine uniform lustre, there would be a peculiar
bluish-grey appearance, by no means so pleasing.
Many skins are poor, and the fur is thin, in
consequence of the animals having been killed in
the summer season. This defect is easily seen by
imitating the method of the trapper holding the
skin upside down and blowing gently, in order to
see whether the fur is close and fine ; a plan which
applies to most other furs beside seal.- ...
Fine, close pile, and soft, pliable pelt are the first
72
ioo FURS AND
considerations in choosing a first-rate sealskin, and,
as several are required to make a mantle or jacket
of any considerable size, it is important that there
should be uniformity of quality, hue and lustre.
The colour of the fur-seal varies scarcely at all,
and the rich, dark, or warm red -brown which we
see in the prepared sealskin is produced by the art
of the dyer, the English dyer being the most skilful
in giving what may be called a natural tinge. With-
out much and patient preparation, even the best
sealskin would not make a handsome fur, and it
could scarcely be worn without undergoing several
processes.
These latter undertake the dressing of the skins,
which are by no means tempting looking, for it
must not be supposed that a "sealskin" as worn
by its original owner is the same attractive-looking,
soft coat that it afterwards becomes ; on the con-
trary, the lovely fur is entirely hidden by a coat
of stiff hair, greyish - brown in colour, and fairly
grizzled. The pelts are received by the furrier
in the rough, and with the salt still clinging to
them. They are now washed ; the fat is taken
off with a knife, great care being exercised that
no injury is done to the skins in the process,
although they are fined down to the roots of the
FUR GARMENTS 101
coarse hair, which is removed by another process,
so that the fur proper alone remains. The skin
now passes through the various processes of "curry-
ing," and is finally dyed. This dyeing process
seems to be the great secret of the success of
our English seal-furriers, as they alone are able
to dye the skins of the dark, deep, rich brown so
indispensable at the present moment, without in-
juring the skins, and, at the same time, of so
holding a dye that it does not come off by rubbing
or exposure to damp. To accomplish all this
involves a vast amount of skilful work, great pa-
tience, and scientific experience, so that eventually,
when the labour is added to the prime cost of
obtaining the pelts, it is easy to see why sealskins
are costly. In addition to this is the cost of fashion-
ing the fur into garments. This latter process,
however, is not necessarily carried out in London,
for whilst it is true that nine-tenths of the seal-
skins are dressed and prepared in London and by
English workmen, it is nevertheless true that many
sealskins are bought by France, Germany, Canada,
and the United States of America in the rough, and
are manufactured afterwards into garments.
Prices vary from 18 for a cloak of fair quality
to sixty guineas for a magnificent article ; but in all
102 FURS AND
the high qualities the skins may be seen at the
INTERNATIONAL FUR STORE.
There are two or three other varieties of seals,
which also supply us with excellent and beautiful
fur. The saddle-back or harp-seal, which abounds
in the Greenland seas, and the bladder-nosed seal,
which has a most beautiful coat of black fur beneath
an outer one of bristly hair.
The introduction of late years of the use of the skins
of the larger animals, such as the Polar bear, the
buffalo, the bison, the tiger, the leopard, and even the
lion, as decorations in the furnishing of large apart-
ments, has led to an increased commerce in these
skins, which are unquestionably beautiful, not only
as mats and rugs, but also for wall decoration. The
skin of the leopard makes exceedingly pretty chair-
backs, and so, for the matter of that, does the undyed
seal. Madame Sarah Bernhardt has introduced,
with startling effect, a lion's hide in her beautiful
study in Paris, and another leading French artiste,
Madame Rejane, has a lion (stuffed) rampant as a
lamp-bearer. Monkeys can be rendered picturesque
objects of furniture as lamp-stands and card-holders.
In short, the unconventiality of modern house
decoration permits of the introduction of many
objects, even selected from animal life, which
FUR GARMENTS 103
would have startled our quiet ancestors out of
their wits.
Undoubtedly, however, when good taste inter-
venes and vulgarity is avoided, handsome fur rugs
and skins, and even stuffed animals, produce a fine
effect. It requires, however, great judgment in the
use of these to avoid the charge of vulgarity. They
must be prepared to perfection. These can be ob-
tained at the INTERNATIONAL FUR STORE, where a
large collection of stuffed animals is exhibited, of
which many museums would be proud, and which
well deserves inspection.
INDEX
AFRICAN cat, Fur of, 91, 92
,, lion, Nero's throne on
skin of, ii
African monkeys, Skins of, 80
Aix-la-Chapelle, Council of; de-
fined dress of monks, 33
Amazons wore furs, 7
America, Discovery of; changed
current of fur trade, 60 %
American Fur Company, founded
in 1808, 61
American Fur Company trans-
ferred to North- West Co., 62
American fur trade in French
hands until late last century, 60
American fur trade more widely
diffused after 1859, 62
American Indians add red wig to
war t costumes, 5
American sable called marten, 73
price, 74, 75
Ancient Jews wore fur hats, 10
Ancients used furs for bed-clothes
and sheets, 8
Anne Boleyn, expenditure on
furs, 48
Anne of Bohemia, collection of
sables and fox skins, 41
Anne of Bohemia, ermine cloak,
4i
Anne of Cleves, appearance, 50
,, ,, wardrobe, 49, 50
Anne of Denmark brought quan-
tities of furs to England, 53
Anne, Queen, gown edged with
sable, 57
Antiquity of fur clothing, i
Arctic or white fox fur, one of
the most effective for ornament,
82
Arctic regions, Fur from, carried
by migrating Goths, Huns and
Ostrogaths, 12
Argonaut, Expedition of; an alle-
gory connected with early fur
trade, 6
Assyrians lavish of costly furs, 9
Astrachan more ancient fur than
usually supposed, 29
Athenian civil costume, Fur rarely
used in, 10
Attempt to revive fur trade in
reign of Charles II., 54
BACCHANTES wore panther skins,
7.8
Badger skins of Tabernacle con-
sidered by some otter skins, 2
Baltic ports great depots of fur
trade for centuries, 60
Bears, 80, 90, 91
Bear skins, Description of, 83
Beaver or Pontic Dog, Fur of,
in great demand in fourth cen-
tury, 12
Beavers from North America, 80
Black foxes, 81
Blue fox, 82
British established in great fur
regions at conquest of Canada,
60
Bruges, a fur market, 23
Buffalo skins, use of in decoration,
1 02
Byzantine belles used red dye, 4
,, emperors exacted tri-
bute of furs and skins, 18, 19
Byzantium, great fur market of
the world for over 1,400 years,
16
CAPE HORN, Falkland Isles and
Patagonia, sealskins of inferior
quality, 97
Cardinal Wolsey, robe edged with
ermine, 44
Carpeting a room entirely un-
known in antiquity, 11
Caspian Sea, Dwellers on shores
of, wore sealskin, 9
Caterina Cornaro, fur-lined robe,
27
Catherine Howard, present of furs
to Countess of Salisbury, 48, 49
Catherine of Arragon, Appearance
of, 44
Catherine of Arragon, predilection
for furs, 43
Catherine of Valois, skirt of er-
mine, 41
Cats, 80
Cat wild, Description of, 91, 92
INDEX
105
Charlemagne wore sheep and
common skins, 15
Chinchilla, Description of, 78, 79
,, furs used by Incas of
Peru, 79
Chinese and Japanese claim use
of furs for 2,500-3,000 years, 10
Chinese lamb skin very fashion-
able, 86
Choice of sealskins, 100
Clergy forbidden use of furs, 1127,
33
Colour of sealskins, 100
Constable Bourbon exceedingly
partial to furs, 27
Constantinople, coldness of cli-
mate, 16, 17
Constantinople fur market sup-
plied from shores of Black and
Caspian Seas, 18
Coronation robes of Czar of
Russia, 31
Coronation robes of Empress
Catherine II., 31
Coronation robes of Napoleon I.
3i
Coronation robes of Queen Vic-
toria, 57
Crusaders returning brought furs,
12
DRESSING sealskins, 100, 101
Duchess of Kent wore ermine
tippet, 57
Duke of Muscovy brought to
England large supplies of furs
and skins, 1557, 49, 51, 52
Dutch East India Company's fur
trade, 1609-1684, 60, 61
Dyeing domestic animals red, 2,
3, 5
Dyeing sealskins, 101
EASTERN Europe, Fur universally
worn in, 23
Edinburgh, good trade in fur
skins, 45
Eleanor of Aquetaine's fur-lined
robe, 30
Eleanor of Provence's grey fur
mantle, 40
Elizabeth, Queen, use of ermine
and fur, 42, 43
Elizabeth Woodville's costume,
"i, 42
Emperor Justinian wore robes
edged with fur, 18
Emperor of Russia's pelisse of
foxes' necks, 81
Empress Galla Placida wore train
lined with leopard's skin, 17
English Fur Trading Company,
earliest record, 1578, 59
Ermine brought into Europe from
Northern countries, 37
Ermine, Description of, 19
,, Great markets for, 19
,, most expensive ornament
of Tartars, 37, 38
Ermine probably white weasel, in
laws of a Welsh king, tenth
century, 38
Ermine used by Court of Rome
at a very early period, 32, 33
Ermine used by French legal
dignitaries in sixth century, 32
Ermine, Use of, restricted to those
of royal blood in Austria, 38
FOXES, Description of, 81-83
French fur trade in Canada, 61
Fur always greatly esteemed in
France, 55
Fur company, English, Earliest
record of, 59
Fur coverlets and silk sheets
lined with fur used in Asia, 8
Fur coverlets for invalids in Paris
hospitals, 8
Fur fashionable and popular in
England very early, 13
Fur, fox, Description of, 81, 82
,, in early times sole wealth of
Northern tribes, 13
Fur in female costume in Italian
paintings, 24, 25
Fur in France greatly esteemed in
1060, 29
Fur markets of Venice and Genoa,
23
Fur not much used at French
Court of Louis XV., XVI., 58
Fur not much used in England,
1700-1880, 58
Fur, revival of, 58
Fur rugs and sheets used in
Turkish households, 22
Fur rugs highly appreciated dur-
ing Renaissance, 47
io6
INDEX
Furs articles of luxury in Middle
Ages, 12
Furs at Health Exhibition, 10
from North America, 66, 67
in palace of Sardanapalus, 9
Largest quantity of, from
North America, 62
Furs not much used for orna-
menting dress among the
Romans till third century, 12
Furs of rare quality little known
in Western Europe until second
and third centuries, 12
Furs, Sumptuary laws against, 14
,, used for felt, 70, 71
Use of, forbidden to clergy,
"27, 33
Furs very rare in earliest heraldry,
22
Fur used to cover couches and
mosaic pavements, 10, n
Furriers' and skinners' place of
business, St. Mary Axe, 54
Furriers' trade in Old Paris, 54
GOLDEN age of fur trade preced-
ing Renaissance, 30
Good trade at Edinburgh in furs
and skins during Renaissance,
46
HAMLET'S suit of sables, 73
Henry VI. 's cloak lined with fox
skin, 41
Henry VII., use of fur, 43
VIII.'s costumes, 44
. ,, favourite fur, sable,
48
Henry VIII.'s statute of apparel,
73
History of furriers' trade, 6
Hudson Bay Company's fur trade,
63-67
Hudson Bay Company's monopo-
lised fur trade, 61
INCREASED commerce in skins of
large animals, 102
International Fur Store, 102, 103
Isabella of Angouleme's furred
robe, 34
Isabella of Bavaria's robes of
ermine, 34
Isabella of Valois' fur garments,
Italian fur markets called Pelli-
cerie, 18
JANE SEYMOUR'S death mantle
furred with ermine, 50, 51
Japanese fox, 82
sealskins, Good quality
of, 97
John, King, used much fur, 39
Josephine's, Empress, affection
for ermine, 58
KING HENRY VI. 's cloak lined
with fox skin, 41
King Henry VII. 's use of fur, 43
,, ,, VIII.'s costumes, 44
,, ,, ,, favourite fur,
sable, 48
King Henry VIII.'s statute of ap-
parel, 73
King John used much fur, 39
,, Louis XL's fox skin cap, 42
XIV.'s attempted re-
vival of fur, 55
King Louis XV., XVI., Fur not
much used under, 58
King Philip the Long's garments
of ermine and miniver, 31, 35, 36
King Richard III.'s coat lined with
sable, 42
Kings during crusades restrained
extravagance in fur, 35
LAMB'S pelt dyed red, 35
Leading fur markets, 23
Leipsic supplies the world with
Astrachan and Persian furs, 86
Leopard and lion skins used for
wall decorations, 102
Lombardic and other Italian
sovereigns followed Byzantine
fashions, 17
Lucrezia Borgia, Wardrobe of, 25
MADELEINE DE VALOIS, Trous-
seau of, 47
Madame de Maintenon tried to
render fur fashionable, 55, 56
Margaret of Anjou's jacket edged
with ermine, 30
Margaret Tudor's wardrobe, 46
Maria Moncenigo's fur-lined gar-
ments, 1584, 25, 26
Maria Pollani's fur-lined robes,
1590, 26, 27
INDEX
107
Mary of Lorraine's extensive stock
of furs, 47
Mary Queen of Scots' rich furs,
47
Mary's, Queen, dress edged with
sable, 51
Mary II. 's, Queen, costume trim-
med with fur, 56, 57
Masque at Richmond, fur dresses,
i5 9. 43
Matilda of Flanders' mantle lined
with ermine, 30
Matilda of Scotland's cloak edged
with ermine, 39
Miniver made from ermine and
Astrachan, 29
Mink, Description of, 76
,, skins, 76, 77
Missouri Fur Company, founded
and dissolved, 62
Monkey fur unknown before 1851,
92
Mus, in Middle Ages, included all
small warm-blooded animals, 37
Musk rats, 80, 89
Mystery of fur trade dispelled,
67, 68
NISHNI NOVGOROD, depot for
Siberian skins, 73
Nobles in Elizabeth's time wore
fur-lined cloaks, 53
North -West Company acquired
Pacific Fur Company, 62
Nurnberg, formerly a very im-
portant fur centre, 23
OCELOT found in Paraguay, 88
,, in request for carriage
rugs and coverlets, 88
Opossum, 80, 90
Origin of fur clothing, i, 2
Otter skins, or badger skins, 2
PARIS BORDONE'S rendering of
fur, 28
Parthenians wore bear skins, 8
Persian head-dress covered with
Astrachan fur, 9, 10
Persian lamb skins much in
fashion in England, 86
Philip the Long of France's gar-
ments of ermine and miniver,
3i, 35. 36
Philippa of Hainhault patroness
of fur, 40
Platypus ornithorhyncus, con-
necting link between beasts and
birds, 88
Polar bear as decoration in fur-
nishing, 102
Pontic mouse, or ermine, 9
Pope's cape edged with ermine, 33
Preparation of fur for the market,
69, 70
Prince Edward's, son of Henry
VIII., furs " mangey," 49
Prince Rupert founded fur com-
pany, 1670, 59
Principal furs used in English
olden time, 31
QUEEN ANNE BOLEYN'S expendi-
ture on furs, 48
Queen Anne's gown edged with
sable, 57
Queen Anne of Bohemia's ermine
cloak, sables and fox skins, 41
Queen Anne of Cleves' appear-
ance, 50
Queen Anne of Cleves' wardrobe,
49- 5
Queen Anne of Denmark's furs,
Queen Catherine Howard's furred
robe, 50
Queen Catherine of Arragon's ap-
pearance, 44
Queen Catherine of Arragon's
predilection for furs, 43 .
Queen Catherine of Valois' skirt
of ermine, 41
Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine's fur-
lined robes, 30
Queen Eleanor of Provence's fur
mantle, 40
Queen Elizabeth's use of ermine
and fur, 42, 43
Queen Elizabeth Woodville's cos-
tume, 41, 42
Queen Isabella of Angouleme's
furred robe, 34
Queen Isabella of Bavaria's robe
of ermine, 34
Queen Isabella of Valois' fur gar-
ments, 41
Queen Madaleine of Valois' trous-
seau, 47
io8
INDEX
Queen Jane Seymour's death,
mantle furred with ermine,
50. 5i
Queen Margaret of Anjou's jacket
edged with ermine, 30
Queen Margaret Tudor's ward-
robe, 46
Queen Mary of Lorraine's exten-
sive stock of furs, 47
Queen Mary of Scots' rich furs,
47
Queen Mary's dress edged with
sable, 51
Queen Mary II., costume trimmed
with fur, 56, 57
Queen Matilda of Flanders' er-
mine-lined mantle, 30
Queen Matilda of Scotland's er-
mine-edged cloak, 39
Queens of House of Hanover
partial to ermine, 57
RACOON found in North America
and West Indies, 85
Ram skins hung round Taber-
nacle, 2
Raphael, Fur in portraits by, 27, 28
Red, Hudson Bay, fox, 83
Renaissance, Furs highly ap-
preciated during, 47
Reynolds and Gainsborough, Fur
and ermine in portraits by, 58
Richard III.'s coat lined with
sable, 42
Robert Spittell, tailor, Edinburgh,
46,47
Rocky Mountains' Fur Company,
1827, 62
Rome, Court of, used ermine very
early, 32, 33
Rugs and skins in great demand
during Roman Empire, n
Russian sable most valuable fur,
73
SABLE, 72, 73
American, called marten,
Sable, Tartar, 75, 76.
Saint John Chrysostom on furs
of the wealthy, 19, 20
Scythians sent furs to Italian
markets, 13
Scotland, use of fur in, 45, 46
Seal, Bladder-nosed and saddle-
backed, or harp, 102
Seal fishery, Alaska, 96, 97
Seals, Description and habits of,
94, 9.5
Seals, Habitations of, 93
fur (Phocidse), next in im-
portance to Russian sable, 95
Sealskins, Dressing, 100, 101
,, ,, Preparing for market,
98, 99
,, ,, Prices of 101, 102
Shetland Isles, High
prices of, 98
,, ,, Varieties of, 93
Sea otter, 97, 98
Semiramis brought tiger skins
from India, 9
Sens, Canons of, and presents of
furs, 33
Silver-grey fox, 83
Skunk or black marten, 77, 78
Squirrel skins, 88, 89
Sumptuary laws, Edward III., 33,
34, 36
Sumptuary laws, France, Ger-
many, Italy, 36, 37
Sumptuary laws, Richard III., 34
TAURUS (now Armenia), centre of
vast fur trade under Greeks and
Romans, 8
Trade in furs between Romans
and northern tribes, 13
Turkish Grand Vizier, robe edged
and lined with ermine, 21
Turkish Sultans wore ermine, fox,
lion, sable skins, &c., 21
Turks adopted costumes of con-
quered Byzantines, 20
Turks wore fur robes long before
capture of Constantinople, 16
VAIR, Description of, 32
WEASEL family, 77
Wild cat, 91, 92
Wolverine obtained from Arctic
regions and Hudson Bay Terri-
tory, 88
YELLOW fox of Tartary, 82
OTHER WORKS BY MR. RICHARD DAVEY.
THE WEPT OF WEATHERLEIGH
OR,
A ROMANCE OF HAMPTON COURT.
NEW AND REVISED EDITION.
11 Careful study is, throughout, apparent, both of the most
authentic historical records and of such minor chronicles of manners
and customs as could be brought to bear upon the story, so as to
embellish it with vivid and truthful local colouring. It was, doubt-
lass, in a great measure, this fact which called forth the warm
eulogium of the lamented poet Longfellow, whose keen appreciation
of bygone English life is well known, though it is not to be supposed
but that the veteran author recognised the power and constructive
skill manifested in his younger brother's work, and thought at least
as highly of Mr. Davey's plot as its surroundings." The Morning Post.
" Mr. Davey writes in a lucid and vigorous style ; many of
the episodes are very forcible, as well as interesting, in a dramatic
sense. His description of London in the days of the Merry Monarch
may vie with passages in ' The Fortunes of Nigel ' ; and it is no small
compliment to compare the dreadful scenes of the Plague, which
desolated our great Capital in 1665, with the famous work of Daniel
Defoe, apparently, like ' Robinson Crusoe,' the writing of an eye-
witness and a first person concerned." Court Circular.
IN PREPARATION.
THE SAND SEA,
And other Stones.
IN PREPARATION.
IN PREPARATION.
THE STORY OF GATELEY MANOR.
THE ROXBURGHE PRESS,
3, Victoria Street,
Westminster.
FOR WEDDING PRESENTS.
IMPERIAL RUSSIAN SABLES,
SILVER FOX, SEA OTTER,
AND OTHER
FASHIONABLE F U R S
THE PROPRIETORS OF
THE INTERNATIONAL FUR STORE
INVITE INSPECTION OF A UNIQUE COLLECTION OF
CHOICE FURS AND FUR GARMENTS.
163 & 198, Regent Street, London, W.
. . THE . .
INTERNATIONAL FUR STORE,
Tested and Reliable Ftirriers,
163 and 198, Regent Street, W.
Special attention is given by the Proprietors of the International
Fur Store to the production of perfect-fitting Sealskin Garments.
A large staff of Specialists is employed upon the premises designing
novelties and executing orders.
Only skilled cutters are employed, and the entire process of manu-
facture is carried out on the premises.
Ladies can select the skins they desire to be used, and should they
wish to do so, may inspect the workshops during the execution of their
orders.
Ladies forwarding Sealskin or other garments for alteration, re-
dressing, or cleaning, will receive an estimate for whatever is required by
return of post.
Furs carefully conserved during summer, or for any period, in
specially fitted storerooms, and insured against fire.
THE INTERNATIONAL FUR STORE,
Tested and Reliable Furriers,
163 & 198, Regent Street, London, W.
CO
O
OH
GO
pi!
O
H-,
CO
PH
" At the International Fur Store you can get a really good and
serviceable Fur-lined Overcoat, trimmed with fur collar and cuffs, for 10.
"The more expensive kinds, of course, are Sealskin, Otter, and
Beaver. For Racing, Hunting, Coursing, Fishing, and Driving, nothing
more comfortable can be worn than Fur or Fur-lined Coats, which can be
readily made to do duty as wraps, rugs, &c. To those susceptible to cold,
they are really a necessity.
" At the International Fur Store there is the finest collection of Fur
and Fur-lined Garments in London, either for Ladies or Gentlemen, and
the prices quoted will be found lower than at any other house."
Sporting Life.
THE INTERNATIONAL FUR STORE,
163 198, REGENT STREET,
LONDON, W.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY
BERKELEY
Return to desk from which borrowed.
This book is DUE on the last date stamped below.
6 NOV59ER
EC'D LD
: "'
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21-95m-ll,'50 (2877sl6)476
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