SABLE 113 



a net is then placed at tlie entrance of the hole, and 

 one may often remain days before the sable comes out 

 and gets entangled in the net. Traps are also used, 

 but with worse result. The Kamchatkan sable is of 

 fine quality, dark and soft, with greyish tips to the fur. 

 The very best skins are said to come from Ajan and 

 Uda, districts of the Okhotsk region, and frequently 

 fetch £^0 and more in the European markets. At 

 present the Russian Government has taken measures 

 towards the prohibition of sable-hunting in two dis- 

 tricts of Kamchatka, with the view of preserving this 

 costly animal. The country round the Kurile Lake in 

 the south, and that round Lake Kronotsky, close to 

 the eastern coast, have been selected for this purpose, 

 but it is difficult to enforce regulations over these 

 uninhabited and remote parts. I learnt that two or 

 three years before, a Kamchatkan sable-hunter had 

 been found frozen to death in the Kronotsky Lake 

 district with over thirty sable skins — a fortune for him 

 — lying at his side. Such are the vicissitudes of this 

 lucrative sport! \n the presence of the Ispravnik and 

 his lieutenant an agreement was arrived at with our 

 new friend Koriakine, with a view to hire boats at a 

 rate of fifty roubles (^,5) each for a month. The joint 

 crews were to consist of a dozen men and four ex- 

 perienced hunters (including Koriakine), who were to 

 I 



