VI.] THE SABLE. ■ 117 



this kind presents the only condition under which this sport is 

 feasible, at least at tliis season. "With the river choked with foul 

 and dying fish, where every cast would foul-hook a fish that would 

 be uneatable on landmg, it is of course an impossibility. Here 

 the stream was free from salmon, but though we hoped to obtain 

 some trout or grayling, it seemed to be equally devoid of these also ; 

 and having spent an hour or two without getting a rise, we returned 

 to camp. We found that one of our party who had been out after 

 capercailzie had been fortunate enough to shoot a sable. The 

 animal had been found by Verglaski, who had chased and treed it, 

 and in spite of its not being, from a hunter's point of view, in full 

 condition, it had been duly added to the bag. Our hunters told 

 us that it was extremely rare to see sable at this time of year. 

 The winter coat had begun to grow, and was, indeed, of tolerable 

 length and quite fast. In spring, although the winter fur may be 

 still on, the pelts are said to be quite useless, as the hair drops out 

 even after the skin has been prepared. The animal measured 

 twenty-seven inches in extreme length ; the tail, which was not 

 furnished with the thick brush so characteristic of the winter skins, 

 seven inches ; and the value of skin in the Petropaulovsky market 

 was estimated by Afanasi at four roubles. The price given for 

 winter sables is, as I have already stated, sixteen roubles. 



The sable is always skinned from the tail — bag-shaped — and 

 while performing this operation in the approved fashion of the 

 country, we listened to a sermon on sables and sable-hunting from 

 Afanasi. They are, he told us, for the most part of nocturnal 

 habits, and, though they occasionally feed by day, generally spend 

 that period of the twenty-four hours in holes at the roots, or in 

 the trunks of trees. They dislike the presence of man, and are 

 rarely to be found in the neighbourhood of the villages ; their 

 favourite resort being the depths of the forests least frequented by 

 the natives. It is considered that the most inaccessible and least 

 known parts of the country are the best hunting-grounds. They 

 live on hares, birds of all kinds, and in short, almost any living 



