THE PI5JE WEASEL. 191 



winter, it is grey, and the end of its tail is black. It 

 is smaller than the common fox, and its hair is soft 

 and downy. 



It lives in holes in the ground and is hunted by the 

 Tartars with falcons and greyhounds. Forty or fifty 

 of these foxes are taken annually, and their skins sold 

 to the Russians, at the rate of forty copees, or about 

 twenty-pence each. Great numbers of them are sent 

 into Turkey. The natives use their skins instead of 

 money. 



Thus, my dear Sir, you have in this, as well as in 

 .some other animals, an exhibition of its various ufses, 

 and a display of the multifarious wisdom of the Crea- 

 tor, who has not ordained it solely as a depredator, 

 nor confined its utility to the amusement of the hu- 

 man species, but also rendered it highly serviceable 

 to man as an article of commerce, and conducive to 

 the intercourse carried on between nations. 



I am, dear Sir, 



Your's, c. 



LETTER XXXII. 



beneath the shining waste 



The furry nations harbour ; tipt with jet, 

 Fair ermines, spotless as the snows they press; 

 Sables of glossy black; and dark embrown'd, 

 Or beauteous freak'd with many a mingled hue, 

 Thousands besides, the costly pride of courts." 



THOJISOV. 



DEAR SIR, 



JL HE reflections on the wise and beneficent dispen- 

 sations of Providence, in accommodating the -animal 

 creation to the use of the human species, with which 

 the subject naturally led me to conclude my last let- 

 ter, induce me to continue the display of Divine wis- 

 dom und goodness, in giving you a concise descrip- 

 tion of a species of small, but exceedingly valuable 

 animals, which are in some countries of extraordinary 

 importance, wheii considered in a commercial point 



