THE RACCOON. 139 



meus classes it in the weasel kind, from the length of its body, 

 the shortness of its legs, and some other characteristics; but its 

 body, which is about three feet loner, i s proportionably much 

 thicker than that of the generality of this race of animals. 



From the shortness of its legs, this creature is unable to pur- 

 sue its prey ; but its claws are peculiarly calculated for climbing 

 trees, where it frequently watches whole days together, in ex^ 

 pectation of the approach of some animal which it may seize on. 

 The elk and the rein-deer are its favourite food, and when they 

 pass under the tree, it darts down upon them, strikes its claws 

 between their shoulders, and there remains fixed in spite of all 

 the efforts of the unfortunate victim to extricate itself from the 

 devourer. The glutton adheres immoveably to its station, and 

 eats away the flesh until it reaches the large blood-vessels. Its 

 voracity is insatiable; it stuffs itself until it can no longer move, 

 and then remains in a state of torpidity by the side of the ani- 

 mal it has killed, and thus continues sometimes two or three 

 days, until its stomach be unburdened, and then it again begins 

 to gorge upon the remains of the carcass, which it never leaves 

 until it has devoured the last morsel. The fur of this animal is 

 held in the highest estimation, and considered as inferior only to 

 the black fox and the sable. It is extremely soft and glossy, of 

 a reddish brown colour, except on the back, which is of a bright 

 shining black, and which reflects the light like damask silk. The 

 skins are sold in Siberia at five or six shillings a-piece-; in Ya- 

 kutsk, at twelve; and still higher in Kamtschatka. There the 

 women adorn their hair with the white paws of this animal, 

 which they esteem a great ornament. The skins which are pro- 

 duced in the north of Europe, are beyond comparison finer, 

 blacker, and more glossy, than those of America. 



Thus we perceive that this singular animal, so remarkable for 

 its insatiable voraciousness, furnishes one of the most valuable 

 articles of the fur trade. Nature, in all her works, produces 

 something either immediately or ultimately beneficial to man, 

 and proclaims the beneficence, as well as the wisdom, of her 

 Omnipotent Author. 



Several other animals of the weasel kind have been observed 

 by travellers, and described by naturalists ; but as we would not 

 embarrass the memory by a tedious detail of minutiae, we shall 

 conclude this chapter by giving only a brief description of the 

 raccoon and the badger. 



THE RACCOON 



Is common in many warm countries, particularly in several 

 parts of the new continent, It also inhabits the mountains of 

 Jamaica, whence numbers descend into the plantations, and make 



