136 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



some years ago his sale was much larger.^^ That the total traffic in 

 skins must involve a yearly diminution of the animals is certain; 

 and that only the inaccessibility of the wildernesses of forest and 

 water preserves the affected species from utter destruction will be 

 plain to everyone who knows the unsparing hand of the Siberian 

 huntsman. 



Although it is plain from what we have said that the Siberian's 

 conception of game is a very wide one, the animals looked upon as 

 worthy of hunting are really those which we ourselves regard as 

 furred and feathered game, or would so regard if they occurred in 

 Germany. In our sense of the- term, the game of the forest girdle 

 includes the Maral stag and the roe-deer, the elk and the reindeer, 

 the wolf, the fox, the Arctic fox, the lynx and the bear, the Arctic 

 hare, the squirrel, the striped and flying squirtel, but above all, 

 the martens, viz., sable, pine-marten and stone-marten, pole-cat, 

 kolonok, ermine, weasel, glutton, and otter; besides the capercaillie, 

 black-grouse, and hazel-grouse. In the south must be added the 

 tiger, which now and then prowls withiu this region, the ounce, the 

 musk-deer, and the wild boar of the mountain forest; while the 

 north also yields the willow grouse, occasionally found at least on 

 the outskirts of the forest. These animals everyone hunts, and the 

 more civilized do so in a regular, if not always sportsmanlike, 

 fashion; for most of them ingenious and effective snares are also 

 laid. 



Of the latter the much-used "fall-trap" is most worthy of 

 notice. Its arrangement is as follows: — Across clear spaces in the 

 forest, especially those which afford a clear view, a low and very 

 inconspicuous fence is stretched, and in the middle of this an 

 opening is left, or there may be two or three if the fence be long. 

 Each opening is laterally bounded by two firm stakes which bear a 

 cross-beam above, and are meant to guide the falling beam, which 

 consists of two long, moderately thick tree-stems, bound side by 

 side. A long lever rests on the cross-beam, on its short arm the 

 falling beam is suspended, while a cord from the long arm forms the 

 connection with a peg-arrangement. The latter is contrived as 

 follows. A short stick, forked at one end and pointed at the other, 



