SABLE. 
413 
varies from one to ten pounds sterling and above. 
The blackest and those which have the ifinest 
bloom or gloss are reputed the best. The very 
best are said to come from the environs of Nei^tch- 
isk and Yakutsk, and in this latter district, the 
country about the river Ud sometimes affords Sa- 
bles of which a single fur is sold at the rate of 
sixty or seventy rubles, or twelve or fourteen 
pounds sterling. Sometimes the furs of Sables are 
fraudulently dyed^ and otherwise prepared, in or- 
der to give them a more iptense colour, but these 
are very inferior to the fine natural ones, and are 
distinguishable by a kind of withered or dull ap- 
pearance of the hair itself when accurately in- 
spected. 
The Sable occurs in North America, as well as 
in Asia; the American Sables are said to be chiefly 
of a chesnut-colour, and more glossy, but coarser 
than the Siberian Sables. It is necessary to ob- 
serve, that the Sable varies in its cast of colour at 
different seasons and in different districts: in- 
stances have been known, though rarely, of its 
being found perfectly white. 
