412 
MUST 
ing-country. There they flop, build huts, and wait till 
the waters are frozen, and the feafon commences. Before 
they begin the chafe, their leader aflembles them ; they 
join in a prayer to the Almighty for fuccefs, and then 
leparate. The firlt fable each party takes is called God’s 
fable, and is dedicated to the church. They then pene¬ 
trate into the woods, and mark the trees as they advance, 
that they may know their way back. In their hunting- 
quarters they form huts of trees, and bank -up the fnow 
around them. Near thefe they lay their traps ; then ad¬ 
vance farther, and lay more traps; dill building new huts 
in every quarter, ami returning fuccelfively to every old 
one, to vifit the traps, and to take out the game, and to 
fkin it, which none but the chief of the party mull do. 
During this time they are fupplied with provifions by 
perfons who are employed to bring it on fledges from the 
places on their route where they are obliged to form ma¬ 
gazines. The traps are a fort of pit-falls, with a loofe 
board placed over each, baited with flfli or flefli. When 
fables grow fcarce, the hunters trace them on the new- 
fallen fnow to their holes, place their nets at the entrance, 
and fometimes wait, watching two or three days, for the 
coming-out of the animal. It has happened that thefe 
poor people have, by the failure of their provifions, been 
lo pinched with hunger, that, to prevent the cravings of 
appetite, they have been reduced to take two thin boards, 
one of which they apply to the pit of the Itomach, the 
other to the back, drawing them tight together by cords 
placed at the ends. Such, fays Mr. Pennant, are the hard¬ 
ship's our fellow-creatures undergo, to fupply the wan- 
tonnefs of luxury ! 
The feafon of chafe being finiflied, the hunters re-affem- 
ble, report to their leader the number of fables each has 
taken, make complaints of offenders againll their regu¬ 
lations, punifli delinquents, and fliare the booty. They 
then continue at the head-quarters till the rivers are clear 
of ice; when they return home, and give to every church 
the dedicated furs. The price of thefe furs varies from 
one to about ten pounds llerling. Fine and middling 
fkins are fold without the bellies; the coarfe ones with 
them. The fineft fables are fold in pairs perfectly fimi- 
lar ; and fuch paiis are dearer than Angle ones of the fame 
goodnefs; for the Ruffians want thofe in pairs for facing 
caps, cloaks, and tippets. The blacked: are reputed the 
belt. 
Sables are in feafon from November to February; thofe 
caught at any other time of the year are fhort-haired. 
The hair of fables differs in length and quality. The 
long hairs, which reach far beyond the inferior ones, are 
called os: the more a fkin has of fuch long hairs, and the 
blacker they are, the more valuable is the fur: the very 
heft have no other but thole long black hairs. Below the 
long hairs there are, in the greater part of fable-furs, fome 
Alerter, called pqdofie, or under os. The more podofie a 
fur has, the lefs valuable it is. Between the os and po¬ 
dofie there is a low woolly kind of hair called podfada: 
the more podfada a fur has, the lefs valuable it is reputed ; 
for the long hair will, in that cafe, take no other direc¬ 
tion than the natural one ; but the character of fables is, 
that liotwithftanding the hair lies from the head towards 
the tail, yet it will lie in any direftion you llrokeyour harid 
over it. Befldes various other particulars rel'pe&ing the 
fur, furriers attend much to the fize, always preferring, 
cccteris paribus, the biggefl, and thofe that have the greateil 
glofs. The glofs vaniihes in old furs : the frefli ones 
have what dealers in furs call a bloomy appearance ; the 
old ones are faid to have “ done blooming.” The dyed 
fables always lofe their glofs, and become lefs uniform, 
whether the lower hairs have taken the dye or not; and 
the hairs are commonly twilled or crifped, and not fo 
flraight as the natural ones. Some fumigate the fkins to 
make them look blacker ; but the fmell and the crifped 
condition of the long hair betray the cheat; but dying 
and fumigating are both detected by rubbing the fur with 
a nioift linen cloth, which grows black in fuch cafes. 
E L A. 
The Chinefe, however, have a way of dying the fables, 
fo that the colour not only lads, which is more than the 
Ruffian cheats can effeft, but the fur keeps its glofs, fo 
that the fraud can only be detected bv the crifped hairs 
The country about the river Ud affords fometimes fa¬ 
bles, of which one is often fold for twelve or fourteen 
pounds fterling. The bellies of fables, which are fold in 
pairs, are about two finger’s breadth, and are, like the 
(kins, tied together in parcels of forty each. One of thefe 
parcels fells from one to two pounds llerling; tails are 
fold by the hundred. The very bell furs mull have their 
tails, but ordinary ones are often cropped: a hundred 
fells from four to eight pounds. The common fable is 
delineated on the Plate at fig. 4. 
White fables are rare ; they are not common mer- 
chandife, but bought only as curiofities : fome are yel- 
lowifh, and are bleached in the fpring on the fnow : the 
common fables are fcarcely any thing better in hair and 
colour than the marten. 
24. Muflela Americanus, the American fable: body 
light tawny ; head and ears whitifh. The fable is alfo 
found in North America. The Ruffians have often dif- 
covered the fkins mixed with thofe of the martens in the 
fur drefles which they get from the Americans by way 
of exchange. Their fur is more glofl'y than that of the 
Siberian fable, and of a bright chefnut colour, but of a 
coarfer quality. The length of the American fable is 
about twenty inches; the trunk of the tail is only five; 
but from the rump to the end of the hairs, eight: its ears 
are more pointed than thofeof the Afiatic fable; its feetare 
large and hairy, both above and below; it has five toes, 
with white claws on each foot: thecolourof its head and 
ears is whitifh ; its whifkers are fhort and black ; its whole 
body of a light tawny; its feet are brown. 
25. Muflela nigra, the fifher-weafel: back, belly, feet, 
and tail, black; lides brown, face cinereous, nofe black. 
This feems delcribed only by Mr. Pennant, who informs 
us that, notwithflanding its name, it is not an amphibious 
animal. It is a native of North America, where it isfup- 
pofed, from the number of fkins imported, to be by no 
means uncommon; not lefs than 580 having been brought 
in one feafon from New York and Pennfylvania. It varies 
in colour; and its length from nofe to tail is twenty-eight 
inches; of the tail, which is very full and bufhy, feven- 
teen. The ears are broad, round, and dufky, edged with 
white : the fore legs are fliorter than the hind : there are 
five toes on the fore-feet, and the fame number, but fome¬ 
times only four, on the hind ; the claws are large, white, 
and crooked. 
26. Muflela putorius, the polecat, or fitchet: body 
blackifh yellow ; mouth and ears white. This is an ani¬ 
mal well known, and eafily diflinguifhed. There is a 
proverbial exprefiion, “ I fmell a rat ;” but any one com¬ 
ing near it may loon fmell a polecat, as it is excelfively 
fetid, being furnifhed, like feveral others of the weafel 
tribe, with certain receptacles which fecrete a thickifh 
fluid of a peculiarly flrong and offenfive odour. The ge¬ 
neral colour of the animal is an extremely-deep blackhh- 
brown, with a tawny call flightly intermixed : the ears 
are edged with white, and the fpace round the muzzle is 
alfo whitifh. The general length of this animal is feven- 
teen inches, exclufive of the tail, which meafures about 
fix inches. See the Plate, fig. 5. 
The polecnt is found in moll parts of Europe; alfo in 
fome of the Afiatic regions, as in Siberia, where it is 
faid to be generally found with the rump of a whitifh or 
yellowifh tinge, furrounded with black. It commonly 
forms itfelf a fubterraneous retreat, fometimes beneath 
the roots of large trees, and fometimes under hay¬ 
ricks, and in barns. It preys indifcriminately on the 
fmaller animals, and is very deftruflive to poultry. It is 
alfo, like the ferret, a cruel enemy to rabbits, which it 
deltroys by fucking their blood, inflead of tearing them 
immediately in pieces. It Heals into barns, pigeon- 
houfes, &c. where it occafionally makes great havock; 
biting 
