Such are the inhabitants of
Poland, of Southern Russia, of China, of Persia, of Turkey, and all
the nations of Gothic origin in the middle and western parts of Europe.
Under the burning suns of Syria and Egypt, and the mild climes of
Bucharia and Independent Tartary, there is also a constant demand, and a
great consumption, where there exists no physical necessity. In our own
temperate latitudes, besides their use in the arts, they are in request
for ornament and warmth during the winter, and large quantities are
annually consumed for both purposes in the United States.
From the foregoing statements, it appears that the fur trade must
henceforward decline. The advanced state of geographical science shows
that no new countries remain to be explored. In North America the
animals are slowly decreasing, from the persevering efforts and
the indiscriminate slaughter practiced by the hunters, and by the
appropriation to the uses of man of those forests and rivers which have
afforded them food and protection. They recede with the aborigines,
before the tide of civilization; but a diminished supply will remain in
the mountains and uncultivated tracts of this and other countries, if
the avidity of the hunter can be restrained within proper limitations.
* An animal called the stoat, a kind of ermine, is said to
be found in North America, but very inferior to the European
and Asiatic.
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