Description
The colorful beads and silver or copper or pewter pendants (above) are representative of the trade goods bartered between French fur traders and Native Americans throughout New France (Canada) in the 17th and 18th centuries.

In an effort to control the fur trade the governors of New France only licensed a few French traders, and expected the Indians to bring their furs to Montreal where the government could keep an eye on them.
But, in short order hundreds of young, enterprising Frenchmen known as voyageurs ("travelers" in French) paddled canoes up the St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers to rendezvous with Indian trappers to obtain their furs.

Another bolder class of Frenchmen known as couriers de bois ("Runners of the Woods" in French) loaded their canoes with metal hatchets, knives, kettles, traps, needles, fish hooks, cloth and blankets, jewelry and decorative items. In later times they also exchanged firearms and sometimes illegal alcohol.

They pushed into the remote wilds of Canada, where they paddled their canoes as many as 16 hours a day while carrying two packs weighing 90 pounds (40 kilograms) each across portages. They learned the Indians' language and customs and gained their friendship with gifts like the colorful beads and trade silver pendants above.

The couriers de bois would often spend a year or two living and trapping with the Indians.
They learned to live, hunt, and dress like the Indians. Sometimes they married Indian women and settled down with their tribes. They learned to survive the freezing winters. Many they did not see another European for several years.

1. Fur Trade Kissing Otter
Hudson Bay Fur Trade Kissing Otter Pendant that is 2-1/4" long by 1-7/8" wide at the pendant. . There laced in sinew with Glass Beads as well on the necklace. The necklace will measure 17" long w/adj.. Our pewter pendants are faithful reproductions of original pieces from the Fur Trade Era and are finished in an antique silver color. These pendants were worn by Fur Traders and Native American and were common among-st and through out the Eastern Northeast Northwest and Great Lakes Indians.