21 8 
WEESE L. 
birds; in autumn, cn hurtleberries, cranberries, 
and the berries of the fervice tree: but during that 
feafon their Skins are at the word, that diet earning 
them to itch, and to rub off their fur againfl the 
trees : they bring forth at the end of March , or be¬ 
ginning of April, and have from three to five at a 
time, which they fuckle for four or five weeks *. 
Their chafe was, in the more barbarous times of 
the Ruffian empire, the employ, or rather the tafks 
of the unhappy exiles into Siberia : as that country is 
now become more populous, the fables have in great 
meafure quitted it, and retired farther North and 
Eafi , to live in defert forefls, and mountains ; they 
live near the banks of rivers, or in the little iflands 
in themf: on this account they have, by feme, 
been fuppofed to be the of Ariftotle , Hift . 
An. lib. viii. c. 5 *, which he claffes with the animals 
converfant among waters. 
At prefent the hunters of fables form theirfelves 
into troops, from 5 to 40 each; the lafb fubdivide 
into leffer parties, and each chufes a leader, but 
there is one that directs the whole: a fmall covered 
boat is provided for each party, loaden with provi- 
fion, a dog and net for every two men, and a veffel 
to bake their bread in: each party alfo has an in¬ 
terpreter for the country they penetrate into : every 
party then fets out according to the coiirfe their 
chief points out. they go againfl the dream of the 
rivers, drawing their boats up, till they arrive in 
^ Rift, Kamtfchatka, iog, &c. 
Avnl's ‘Travels, 140. 
the 
