The method of bidding at the fur auction is by what is known as the "silent" system. The auctioneer usually starts the bidding himself at a moderate figure and the buyers interested signify their bids by various methods--such as by a nod, or a wink, or even a flick of the pencil; sometimes indeed a buyer will merely look at the auctioneer whilst the bids are being taken and only remove his gaze when his limit has been exceeded. It is often amusing to notice the tactics adopted by two bidders, each of whom wants a particular lot: one may perhaps be seated in the front row and he will perhaps bid by _raising his eyebrows_; the other (seated further back) will not look at the broker at all but will narrowly _watch his rival's hat_ (the movement of which betrays the bidding) whilst he records his own bids by _moving his little finger_! As a rule, bids advance by a definite amount, which varies with the value of the article in question: bids for beaver skins, for example, may start at 50s. and advance by 2s. steps to 100s., beyond which the advance is by 5s. steps; in the case of musquash an advance of 3d or 6d per bid is sufficient. When demand is keen and bidding brisk, buyers frequently discard the silent method, and the broker is assailed with a chorus of "up! up!" from all parts of the room. As it is often difficult in such cases to distinguish between bidders, the possession of a good pair of lungs is a decided advantage for a buyer. _Furs Sold at "Per Skin" Rate_ Most lots are sold "at per skin"--that is to say, when a lot of musquash containing 1600 skins, for instance, is put up, the auctioneer needs to register the price of only one skin--the value of the lot being 1600 times that figure. Although sitting for weeks in the saleroom buying sundry lots of skins from this catalogue and that may seem a dull job, yet the buyer with imagination finds the fur trade fascinating. He realizes that the skins he buys have taken months of patient toil and careful handling to assemble from the uttermost parts of the earth. To him, the sale mark "MKR" denotes not merely a particular quality of fur, but suggests the mighty river of the great Northwest threading its lonely way from the plains to the Arctic Sea. It is this sense of the world-wide ramifications of the fur trade, and the knowledge that the Company's organization has played, and still plays, a notable part in its development that make one feel proud to belong to the Hudson's Bay Company. An American Account of an Ancient Selkirk Settlement Caravan The Public Archives of Canada at Ottawa contain the following characteristic description of a Red River Caravan from the old Selkirk Settlement, as printed in the _Wisconsin Herald_ of September 15th, 1847: