CULTUEE OF FUR-BEAKERS 243 



and are brown, somewhat lighter below (throat 

 and breast-spot orange in the Canadian sable), 

 and variable according to age, sex, and season. 

 The winter fur is thick, soft, an inch and a half 

 deep, of richest hue, and has scattered through 

 it coarse black hairs which the furrier pulls 

 out; the tail is somewhat bushy. . . ." 



Canadian fur-bearers. For two hundred 

 and fifty years the Canadian marten has sup- 

 plied, as had the sable for perhaps as many 

 centuries, the most valuable furs sent to 

 market, excepting a few rarities like sea- 

 otter. 



North America also contains the giant of the 

 tribe in Pennant's marten, named by the early 

 French Canadians pekan, and by modern trap- 

 pers "fisher," ''black cat," or "black fox," it 

 being none of the three ! It is remarkable for 

 its great size 24 inches, plus 13 inches of tail 

 and for its dog-like head. A third still 

 larger relative is the wolverine or "carcajou," 

 an uncommonly large, clumsy, shaggy marten, 

 of great strength, and displaying extreme per- 

 severance and sagacity in procuring food 

 where the supply is limited and precarious. 



