_Page_ PREFACE vii _Chapter_ I. ROYAL ROBES AND BEAVER HATS 1 II. VIKINGS AND SKRAELINGS IN VINLAND 16 III. CODFISH LAND SPAWNS A FUR FRONTIER 24 IV. SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN LIGHTS A BLAZE OF RED TERROR 37 V. ENGLAND MOVES TO EXTEND HER REALM 44 VI. CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH TAKES TO TRADE 57 VII. THE DUTCH PROFIT BY A MUTINY 67 VIII. CONCEPTION OF NEW ENGLAND 82 IX. THE PILGRIMS RELY ON GOD AND BEAVER 91 X. A BORDER FIXED ON THE COAST OF MAINE 107 XI. THE BAY OF VIRGINIA 114 XII. KENT ISLAND AND THE BACKSIDE OF VIRGINIA 124 XIII. NEW NETHERLAND’S SOUTH RIVER 135 XIV. SWEDISH INTERLUDE ON THE DELAWARE 147 XV. NEW NETHERLAND THREATENED WITHOUT AND WITHIN 164 XVI. THE ENGLISH CLOSE THEIR COASTAL RANKS 180 XVII. WESTWARD THE FUR FRONTIER OF AMERICA 186 BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 205 INDEX 209 _PELTS and PALISADES_ _Friend, once ’twas Fame that led thee forth To brave the Tropic Heat, the Frozen North; Late it was Gold, then Beauty was the Spur; But now our gallants venture but for Fur._ JOHN DRYDEN, 1672. I _Royal Robes and Beaver Hats_ It might be said that man’s first true possession was the fur skin of an animal. Prehistoric mankind prowled the earth seeking food, shelter and mates--only those needs intended by nature to preserve him and to perpetuate his species. He had no accumulated wealth. Even his first crude weapons, rocks and sticks, were expendable. He had nothing material to treasure until he began to acquire coverings for his body. Body coverings must have become useful to primitive man in the last glacial period, during the very evolution of human society. His earliest needs were doubtless served by the pelts of such cold-climate animals as the reindeer and the bear. Once _Homo sapiens_, stretched out on the floor of a chilly cave, experienced the warmth of fur skins accumulated from these animals that he had eaten, it could have been but a short step to using pelts as clothing. All the world was not cold however. In the middle latitudes early man knew little of thickly furred animals, and had less need for warm garments. He used foliage, grasses and eventually goat and sheep skins as skirts to hide his uncleanness. It was probably no more than modesty, a primal sense of shame, that first prompted him to cover himself. Later, as he learned to shape and weave and to appreciate his art, he fashioned his clothing for adornment.