106 THE FUR TRADE OF AMERICA 



because cedar grows best in a slightly swampy soil ; and though 

 the sable is a weasel, like the mink, he does not frequent streams. 

 He prefers the rocks and the trees. 



Sable are found far south as China and far west as the Ural 

 Mountains, and thrive best in Siberia and Kamchatka. Kamchatka 

 used to pay its taxes to the imperial treasury in sable skins. Over 

 80 skins a winter was not an abnormal catch for a good trapper. 



The Russian sable nests in rocky burrows and hollow trees 

 with moss and leaves to line his house. The young are born in 

 spring in litters of 3 to 5, so it ought not to be impossible to multiply 

 the sable if he could be domesticated. His diet is rabbit, birds, 

 eggs, berries and — like all the weasels — fresh blood. He is a 

 night hunter and such a heavy day sleeper that he can be taken 

 out of his nest without alarming him. He hunts with almost the 

 same antics as the domestic cat. 



Of late years, guns are never used on the sable, only snares and 

 box traps that cannot injure the fur. The trapping season is from 

 October to November. 



In the fur trade are 16 classifications of Russian sable, accord- 

 ing to the district from which they come. For instance, Kam- 

 chatka sable have silver hairs, cedar sable, yellow hairs, and so on. 



Before the War, one Russian fur farmer was experimenting with 

 sable; but nothing has come out to the trade of his results. 



Pekan, or fisher, and otter, are the largest of the weasels coming 

 on the market as furs. I am aware wolverine, skunk and badger 

 are scientifically classified in the same family; but as fur, they are 

 not to be considered in the same breath as the minks, the martens 

 and the sables. 



Otter will be dealt with in connection with sea otter ; but among 

 the high-priced weasel furs, fisher or pekan ranks as a sort of Black 

 Douglas, not as costly and rare as the tiny sable, but a magnificent 

 black-coated fellow, the largest of the fur weasels and such a verita- 

 ble snob, he associates his fur with no other fur, but is done up in 

 unique one-piece goods, incapable of imitation and unless brown- 



