DCHP-1 Online

skin Fur Trade

• 1 n. a unit of value originally equivalent to one made beaver, or, in some areas, to one martin (def. 2b), and varying in real worth from district to district.

  See also: made beaver  marten (def. 2b)  

  • c1787  I sent Leonard yesterday with two Indians who took 54 skins credit from me; as they do not go your way, I do not send you an account of their credits.
  • 1708  (1957)  One with the other 10 good skins; that is, Winter Beaver; 12 Skins of the biggest sort, 10 for the mean, and 8 for the smallest. [Oldmixon of HBC on the exchange rate of guns.]
  • 1825  (1931)  I pressed those indolent rascals to Guide us to Brandon House and offered them the value of 100 Skins for that Service but they declined it with a variety of excuses.
  • 1858  (1863)  The value of the skin differs in different parts of the country, thus a skin in Swan River district is about 2s., and in Upper Saskatchewan it is about 2s. 3d. Again, at Forts Shepherd and Colville, where the influence of the gold begins to be felt, it is 8s. 4d.
  • 1909  From here northward the terms "dollars" and "cents" are unheard. An article is valued at "three skins" or "eight skins" or "five skins," harking back to the time when a beaver-skin was the unit of money. The rate of exchange to-day is from four skins to two skins for a dollar.
  • 1956  These men each had a handful of six-inch hardwood sticks. One man bought a pound of tea, worth at Brochet a dollar and a half. Told that the tea was worth "three skins," the man drew the requisite number of sticks from his hand and laid them on the counter.

• 2 n. Obs. an animal hide that has been dehaired, stretched, and dried, used for making such things as babiche, window panes, packstraps, and pemmican bags.

  See also: parchment (def. 2)  

  • 1859  (1870)  "Robes," it must be understood [are buffalo] skins with the hair on, as distinguished from those dressed without hair, which are simply known as "skins."