Furs were, for a long time, Canada's main resource. First on the export list were beaver pelts, but there was also a market for moose, deer, caribou, marten, racoon, otter, bear, fox, wolf and some other skins. These animals were hunted by the Amerindians. Before the Whites arrived, the Amerindians hunted to satisfy their own needs and the animal population reproduced normally. This natural balance was disrupted as the European demand for fur continued to grow. As a result, the animal population was decimated and the beaver, in particular, was an easy prey in his lodge. The market demand could only be satisfied through longer journeys to the West with its largely untapped resources.
This illustration, and the next one, appeared in an account of life in Canada written by an officer in the colonial regular troops, Louis Armand de Lom d'Arce, the Baron de LaHontan. The three volumes of the Nouveaux voyages de M. le baron de LaHontan dans l'AmÄrique septentrionale were published in The Hague in 1703. The beaver's skill and tenacity in damming rivers and erecting lodges is a constant source of amazement for the observer. How accurate do you consider this depiction of beavers and the methods of hunting them?
