CHAPTER V.BEAVERS-WOOL.

CHAPTER V.BEAVERS-WOOL.Isidorus Hispalensis—Claudian—Beckmann—Beavers’-wool—Dispersion of Beavers through Europe—Fossil bones of Beavers.

Isidorus Hispalensis—Claudian—Beckmann—Beavers’-wool—Dispersion of Beavers through Europe—Fossil bones of Beavers.

The passage quoted from Isidore of Seville, in the last chapter, shows that the ancients made a cloth, the woof of which was of Beavers’-wool (de fibri lanâ), and which was therefore calledVestis Fibrina. Bylanahe must have meant the very fine wool, which, agreeably to the observation in the last paragraph, grows under the long hair of the beaver. Isidore in the same Book, observes, “Fibrinum lana est animalium, quæ fibros vocant: ipsos et castores existimant.”

The following Epigram of Claudian seems intended, as Beckmann (iv.p.223.) supposes, to describe “a worn-out beaver dress, which had nothing more left of that valuable fur but the name.”

The shadow of its ancient name remains:But, if no nap of beaver it retains,A Beaver Mantle it can scarce be nam’d.The price, however, proves its claim: it costSix pounds. Hence, though all lustre it has lost,Yet, bought so dear, as beaver let it still be fam’d.

The shadow of its ancient name remains:

But, if no nap of beaver it retains,

A Beaver Mantle it can scarce be nam’d.

The price, however, proves its claim: it cost

Six pounds. Hence, though all lustre it has lost,

Yet, bought so dear, as beaver let it still be fam’d.

Sidonius Apollinaris calls those who used this costly apparelcastorinati.Lib.v.Epist.7.p.313.Paris, 1599, 4to.

Gerbert, or Gilbert, surnamed the Philosopher, and afterwards Pope Silvester II., commenting on the qualities of a good Bishop according to 1 Timothy iii. 1., says in reference to the word “ornatum:”

“Quod si juxta sensum literæ tantûm respiciamus, non aliud, sacerdotes, quam amictum quæremus clariorem; verbi gratiâ, castorinas quæremus et sericas vestes: et ille se inter episcopas credet esse altiorem, qui vestem induerit clariorem. Sed S. Apostolus taliter se intelligi non vult, quia non carne, &c.”—De Informatione Episcoporum, seu De Dignitate Sacerdotali, in ed. Benedict. Opp. S. Ambrosii, tom.ii.p.358.

“An upper garment of this cloth was worn by the Emperor Nicephorus II. at his coronation in the year 936.”—Beckmann,l. c.§ 31.

“This method of manufacturing beavers’-hair,” observes Beckmann, “seems not to have been known in the time of Pliny; for, though he speaks much of thecastor, and mentionspellis fibrinathree times, he says nothing in regard to manufacturing the hair, or to beaver-fur.”

It seems probable, that the Greeks and Romans did not use cloth of beavers’-wool until the 4th century. In an earlier age the furs and drugs supplied by beavers were obtained from the countries to the North of the Euxine Sea. But in the period now under consideration the intercourse of the Romans with the West of Europe would open a much more extended sphere for procuring the Vestes Fibrinæ, since we have traces of the existence of beavers in almost all parts of Europe. Their appearance in Wales, Scotland, Germany, and the North of Europe generally, is attested by Giraldus Cambrensis[393].

[393]Topographia Hiberniæ, c. 21, and Itinerarium Cambriæ, l. ii. c. 3.

Dr. Patrick Neill, in a valuable paper on this subject,[394]has given an account of the bones of recent beavers found in Perthshire and Berwickshire. They have also been found in Cambridgeshire[395]. We learn from the life of Wulstan[396], thatbeaver-furs, as well as those ofsables,foxes, and other quadrupeds, were used by the Anglo-Saxons in very early times forliningtheir garments. Other modern authors speak of their occurrence in Austria, Hungary, and the North of Italy[397]. They are still found in Sweden[398]. Strabo informs us, that in his time they frequented the rivers of Spain[399].

[394]Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. i. p. 177-187.[395]Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. i. part i. p. 175.[396]See Extracts in Henry’s History of Britain, vol. iv.[397]Muratori, Antichità Italiane, tomo ii. p. 110. Napoli, 1783. The authors, cited by Muratori, are Gervase of Tilbury, and Mathioli.[398]Travels in Sweden, by Dr. Thomas Thomson, p. 411.[399]Lib. iii. 163. vol. i. p. 737, ed. Siebenkees.

[394]Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, vol. i. p. 177-187.

[395]Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical Society, vol. i. part i. p. 175.

[396]See Extracts in Henry’s History of Britain, vol. iv.

[397]Muratori, Antichità Italiane, tomo ii. p. 110. Napoli, 1783. The authors, cited by Muratori, are Gervase of Tilbury, and Mathioli.

[398]Travels in Sweden, by Dr. Thomas Thomson, p. 411.

[399]Lib. iii. 163. vol. i. p. 737, ed. Siebenkees.

Buffon says (Hist. Nat.tome26.p.98.), “There are beavers in Languedoc in the islands of the Rhone, and great numbersof them in the North of Europe.” “But as human population extends,” he observes, “beavers, like other animals, are dispersed, become solitary, fugitive, or conceal themselves in the ground: they cease to unite in bands, to engage in building or other undertakings.”

“We have been unable to ascertain,” says Cuvier[400], “after the most scrupulous comparisons, if the Castors or Beavers, which burrow along the Rhone, the Danube, and the Weser, are different in species from those of North America, or if they are prevented from building by the vicinity of man.” The same distinguished author in his work on Fossil Bones says, “The greater part of our European rivers having formerly supported beavers, and some of them doing so still, viz. the Gardon and the Rhone in France, the Danube in Bavaria and Austria, and several small rivers in Westphalia and Saxony, we cannot be surprised to find their hones preserved in our mosses, or turbaries.” He then mentions instances of the heads and teeth of beavers, in the valley of the Somme in Picardy, in the valley of Tonnis-stein near Andermach, and at Urdingen on the Rhine in Rhenish Prussia[401].

[400]Règne Animal, vol. iii. p. 65. of Griffith’s Translation.[401]Cuvier, Ossemens Fossiles, tome v. partie Ière, p. 55.; partie 2nde, p. 518. See also Annales du Museum d’Hist. Naturelle, tome xiv. p. 47.

[400]Règne Animal, vol. iii. p. 65. of Griffith’s Translation.

[401]Cuvier, Ossemens Fossiles, tome v. partie Ière, p. 55.; partie 2nde, p. 518. See also Annales du Museum d’Hist. Naturelle, tome xiv. p. 47.

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