Many of them which I opened were red and bloody about the heart.

Those in large rivers and running water suffered less; almost all of those that lived in ponds and stagnant water, died.

Since that year the beaver have never been so plentiful in the country of Red River and Hudson's Bay as they used formerly to be." The great attraction which Canada offered to France and England as a field of adventure lay in its wonderful supply of furs.

The beaver skins were perhaps the commonest article of export, and were generally regarded as a unit of value, such as a shilling might be.

Other skins were valued at "so many beavers," or the smaller ones at half or a quarter of a beaver each.