186 
FOX. 
carry off ; even tilings that were of no use to thenf, 
as knives, sticks, and clothes. They were so ex- 
tremely ingenious as to roll down our casks of pro- 
visions several poods (each pood is equal to forty 
Russian pounds) in weight ; and then steal the 
meat out with such skill, that at first we could not 
bring ourselves to ascribe the theft to them. While 
employed in stripping an animal of its skin, it has 
often happened that we could not avoid stabbing 
two or three foxes, from their rapacity in tearing 
the flesh out of our hands. If we buried it ever so 
carefully, and even added stones to the weight of 
earth that was upon it, they not only found it out, 
but with their shoulders pushed away the stones, 
by lying under them, and in this way helping one 
another. If, in order to secure it, we put any ani- 
mal on the top of a high post in the air, they either 
dug up the earth at the bottom, and thus tumbled 
the whole down, or one of them climbed up, and 
with incredible artifice and dexterity threw down 
what was upon it. 
“ They watched all our motions, and accom- 
panied us in whatever we were about to do. If the 
sea threw up an animal of any kind, they devoured 
it before we could arrive to rescue it from them : 
and if they could not consume the whole of it at 
once, they trailed it in portions to the mountains, 
where they buried it under stones before our eyes, 
running to and fro so long as any thing remained 
to be conveyed away. While this was doing, others 
stood on guard and watched us. If they saw any 
