210 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



the days are no more when the Tunguse hunter willingly gave for a copper 

 kettle as many sable skins as it would hold, or when the Kamchatkan trapper, 

 could easily catch seventy or eighty sables in one winter ; but Yon Baer still esti- 

 mates the annual produce of all Siberia at 45,000 skins. The finest are caught 

 in the forests between the Lena and the Eastern Sea, but Kamchatka furnishes the 

 greater number. A skin of the finest quality is worth about forty roubles on 

 the spot, and at least twice as much in St. Petersburg or Moscow, particularly 

 when the hair is long, close, and of a deep blackish-brown, with a thick brown 

 underwool. Skins with long dark hair tipped with white are highly esteemed, 

 but still more so those which are entirely black — a color to which the Russians 

 give the preference, while the Chinese have no objection to reddish tints. In 

 consequence of this difference of taste, the sables from the Obi, which are gen- 

 erally larger but of a lighter color, are sent to Kiachta, while the darker skins, 

 from Eastern Siberia, are directed to St. Petersburg and Leipsic. 



The chase of the sable is attended with many hardships and dangers. The 

 skins are in the highest perfection at the commencement of the winter ; accord- 

 ingly, towards the end of October, the hunters assemble in small companies, and 

 proceed along the rivers in boats, or travel in sledges to the place of rendez- 

 yous — taking with them provisions for three or four months. In the deep and 

 solitary forest they erect their huts, made of branches of trees, and bank up the 

 snow round them, as a further protection against the piercing wind. They now 

 roam and seek everywhere for the traces of the sable, and lay traps or snares 

 for his destruction. These are generally pitfalls, with loose boards placed over 

 them, baited with fish or flesh ; fire-arms or cross-bows are more rarely used, as 

 they damage the skins. The traps must be frequently visited, and even then 

 the hunter often finds that a fox has preceded him, and left but a few worth- 

 less remnants of the sable in the snare. Or sometimes a snow-storm over- 

 takes him, and then his care must be to save his own life. Thus sable-hunt- 

 ing is a continual chain of disappointments and perils, and at the end of the 

 season it is frequently found that the expenses are hardly paid. Until now 

 the sable has been but rarely tamed. One kept in the palace of the Arch 

 bishop of Tobolsk was so perfectly domesticated, that it was allowed to stroll 

 about the town as it hked. It was an arch-enemy of cats, raising itself furi 

 ously on its hind-legs as soon as it saw one, and showing the greatest desire 

 to fight it. 



In former times the ermine {Mtistela erminea) ranked next to the sable as 

 the most valuable fur-bearing animal of the Siberian woods ; at present the skin 

 is worth no more than from five to eight silver kopeks at Tobolsk, so that the 

 whole produce of its chase hardly amounts to 200,000 roubles. ^ This httle ani- 

 mal resembles in its general appearance the weasel, but is considerably larger, 

 as it attains a length of from twelve to fourteen inches. Its color, which is red- 

 dish-brown in summer, becomes milk-white during the winter in the northern 

 regions, with the exception of the tip of the tail, which always remains black. 

 Its habits likewise greatly resemble those of the weasel; it is equally alert m 

 all its movements, and equally courageous in defending itself when attacked 

 It lives on birds, poultry, rats, rabbits, leverets, and all kinds of smaller animals 



