CHAPTER VII 



THE HOME OF THE SABLE A PLUCKY BEAST 

 THE PEOPLE MET THE COUNTRY TRAVERSED 



HERE at last was the country Varian had 

 described that Christmas in Rouen in 

 1917, and here he, Van der Byl, and 

 Elaine had hunted their first sable two years later. 

 One could see readily it was a good sable country, 

 for their tracks were everywhere, and in this land 

 of glade and open forest the sable found not grass 

 alone, but other food which served them when the 

 grass was rank or dry, for in certain places in the 

 forest the quinsolle shrub was plentiful, and in this 

 " sable bush " the animals were more often to be 

 found. 



The quinsolle grows, with slender stem and 

 tendril-like branches, eager to climb any support 

 it meets, and giving a milky juice like rubber 

 when bruised. The leaf of the shrub is oval, 

 some 2 inches long and dark green in colour, and 

 the small flower is somewhat like a jasmine. 



Another plant, the chinbimburee, which the 

 natives say the sable also loves, is much smaller 

 than the quinsolle, only 2 or 3 feet high, bearing 

 long slender leaves and pods like beans. 



In the north I had found that grass formed 



