412 SABLE. 



coloured at the roots and black at the tips : the 

 chin is cinereous, and the edges of the ears yel- 

 lowish. Its size is equal to that of the Martin; 

 but, exclusive of other differences, a principal 

 one consists in the tail, which is much shorter in 

 proportion than in the Martin. The Sable is an 

 inhabitant of the northern parts of Asia/ and is 

 an extremely important article in the fur trade. 

 It principally lives in holes under ground, especi- 

 ally under the roots of trees, and sometimes, like 

 the Martin, forms its nest in the hollows of trees. 

 Jt is an active, lively animal, preying, in the man- 

 ner of the Martin, on the smaller quadrupeds, 

 birds, &c. Like the Martin it is also most lively 

 during the night, and sleeps much by day. In 

 autumn the Sable is said to eat cranberries, whor- 

 tles, &c. It brings forth early in the spring, and 

 has from three to five young at a time. The 

 chase of the Sable, according to Mr. Pennant, 

 was, during the more barbarous periods of the 

 Russian empire, the principal task of the unhappy 

 exiles who were sent into Siberia, and who, as well 

 as the soldiers sent there, were obliged to furnish, 

 within a given time, a certain quantity of furs; 

 but, as Siberia is now become more populous, the 

 Sables have in great measure quitted it, and have 

 retired farther to the north and east, into the de- 

 sert forests and mountains. 



Sables are numbered among the most valu- 

 able of furs. From an abstract drawn up by 

 the late Dr. Forster, from Muller's account of its 

 commercial history, it appears that the price 



