278 



THE SABLE. 



well-known Maries zibellina, a North American species is known, together with another which 

 is an inhabitant of Japan. These two creatures, although they are very similar to each other 

 in general aspect, can be distinguished from each other by the different hue of their legs and 

 feet : the American Sable being tinged with white upon those portions of its person, and the 

 corresponding members of the Japanese Sable being marked with black. 



The Sable is spread over a large extent of country, being found in Siberia, Kamtschatka, 

 and in Asiatic Russia. Its fur is in the greatest perfection during the coldest months of the 

 year, and offers an inducement to the hunter to brave the fearful inclemency of a northern 

 winter in order to obtain a higher price for his small but valuable commodities. A really 

 perfect Sable skin is but seldom obtained, and will command an exceedingly high price. An 





SABLE.— Maries zibellina. 



ordinary skin is considered to be worth from five to thirty dollars, but if it should be of the 

 very best quality, is valued at fifty to sixty dollars. 



In order to obtain these much-prized skins, the Sable-hunters are forced to undergo the 

 most terrible privations, and often lose their lives in the snow-covered wastes in which the 

 Sable loves to dwell. A sudden and heavy snow-storm will obliterate in a single half -hour 

 every trace by which the hunter had marked out his path, and, if it should be of long con- 

 tinuance, may overwhelm him in the mountain "drifts" which are heaped so strangely by the 

 fierce tempests that sweep over those fearful regions. Should he not be an exceedingly experi- 

 enced hunter, possessed of a spirit which is undaunted in the midst of dangers, and of a mind 

 which is stored with the multitudinous precepts of hunters' lore, he is certain to sink under 

 the accumulated terrors of his situation, and to perish by cold and hunger in the midst of the 

 snow-sea that rolls in huge white billows over the face of the country. 



At the best, and when he meets with the greatest success, the privations which he is called 

 upon to undergo are of the most fearful character, and he rarely escapes without bearing on 

 his person the marks of the terrible labor which he has performed. 



The Sables take up their abode chiefly near the banks of rivers and in the thickest parts 

 of the forests that cover so vast an extent of territory in those uncultivated regions. Their 

 homes are usually made in holes which the creatures burrow in the earth, and are generally 

 made more secure by being dug among the roots of trees. Sometimes, however, they prefer to 

 make their nests in the hollows of trees, and there they rear their young. Some authors, 



