Page 50 - Merchants and Mandarins China Trade Era

36.

the south was the sea otter, the fur of which was highly valued

at Canton. But unlike the Pacific Northwest, the southern coast

inhabited by the sea otter was not unsettled mountains and forests.

A colony of Spain, California already had establishments at
the major inlets and harbors. In the 1780 s the Spanish them­
1

selves for a short period engaged in a fur trade between

California and Canton. Usually gathered by Indians and col-

lected at the missions, the fur pelts were sent south to the

port of San Blas (Mexico), where Spanish galleons transported

them to Manila and Canton. But the Spanish did not encourage
45
the fur trade and it never flourished.

Spanish authorities nevertheless prohibited vessels

outside the Empire from engaging in the fur trade along the

California coast. They sought to enforce this restriction by

refusing such vessels permission to trade or anchor at any

port or harbor in California. American seacaptains, finding

the sea otter especially abundant along the rocky shores of

northern California, found ingenious "emergencies" such as a

sudden shortage of fresh water or food or the dire need for

repairs which necessitated putting into port. While the cap­

tain explained his problems to local authorities, his vessel's

crew traded for otter pelts. Interestingly, the Californians

most willing to trade were Spanish missionaries. They were
soon joined in the trade by Mexican settlers who, like the

missionaries, found such an illegal trade with American traders

45
Bancroft, History of the Northwest, I, 374-75.