Note 258 — EFFECTS OF THE TRADING POST.

The traffic in furs in the Middle Ages was enormous, says Friedlander, Sittengeschichte, III., 62. Numerous cities in England and on the Continent, whose names are derived from the word "beaver" and whose seals bear the beaver, testify to the former importance in Europe of this animal; see Canadian Journal, 1859, 359. See Du Chaillu, Viking Age, 209-10; Marco Polo, bk. iv., ch. xxi. "Wattenbach, in Historische Zeitschrift, IX., 391, shows that German traders were known in the lands about the Baltic at least as early as the knights.