2‘2 2 
W E E s E l; 
bloomy appearance, as they exp refs it; the old ones 
are faid to have done blooming : the died fables al¬ 
ways lofe their glofs, become lefs uniform, whether 
the lower hairs have taken the dye or not, and com¬ 
monly the hairs are fomewhat twilled or crifped, 
and not fo ftrait as in the natural ones: fome fumi¬ 
gate the fkins, to make them look blacker, but the 
fmell, and the crifped condition of the long hair, 
betrays the cheat; and both ways are detected, by 
rubbing the fur with a moift linnen cloth, which 
N grows black in fuch cafes.” 
“ The Chin'efe have a way of dying the fables, 
fo that the colour not only lafts, (which the Ruffian 
cheats cannot do) but the fur keeps its glofs, and 
the crifped hairs only difcover it: this is the reafon 
that all the fables, which are of the bell kind, 
either in pairs or feparate, are carried to Ruffia ; the 
reft go to China: the very beft fables come from 
the environs of Nertchitjk and Takutjk *, and in this 
latter diftricl, the country about the river Ud affords 
fometimes fables, of whom one fingle fur is often 
fold at the rate of 6o or 70 rubles, 12 or 14I. The 
bellies of fables, which are fold in pairs, are about 
two fingers breadth, and are tied together by forty 
pieces, which are fold from 1 to 2 k fterling: tails 
are fold by the hundred; the very beft fable furs 
imift have their tails, but ordinary fables are often 
•cropped, and a hundred fold from 4 to 8 L fterling: 
the legs or feet of fables are feldom fold feparately; 
white fables are rare, and no common merchandize, 
but bought only as curiofities : fome are yellowifh, 
and are bleached in the fpring on the fnow.” 
W. with 
