Sable (fur)

“ Among these persecuted denizens of the forest, the sable (Martes zibellina) , which closely resembles the pine-marten (Martes abietum) in shape and size, deserves to be particularly noticed, both for the beauty of its pelt, and its importance in the fur-trade. Sleeping by day, the sable hunts his prey by night; but though he chiefly relishes animal food, such as hares, young birds, mice, and eggs, he also feeds on berries, and the tasteful seeds of the Pinus cembra. His favorite abode is near the banks of some river, in holes of the earth, or beneath the roots of trees. ”

“ Where Kyrle and Saville and their happiness were safe from the tempest shut,
And the cheery lamp shed a kindly glow over the humble place,
And the nets and the bits of coral and spar lent it a simple grace.
“If only this cottage were ours, Saville! if this our idyl might be
Played for a white half-year divine down by the ice fringed sea!
But alas! the sable curtain must drop, and the actors perforce must flee!” ”

“ It lives in holes under the ground, and especially under the roots of trees; but sometimes makes its nest, like the squirrel, in the hollows of trees. The skin of the Sable is more valuable than that of any other animal of equal size. One of these skins, not more than four inches broad, has sometimes been valued at as high a rate as fifteen pounds; but the general price is from one to ten pounds, according to the quality. The Sable’s fur is different{65} from all others, its peculiarity being, that the hair turns with equal ease either way ”

“ Another, though minor, cause of the diminished take of sables was, he alleged, that the world is now much worse than it used to be, so that nowadays a hunter will sometimes hide the sable which he has got instead of putting it into the common stock. This also, said he, the sables cannot abide.686 A Russian traveller happening once to enter a Gilyak hut in the absence of the owner, observed a freshly killed sable hanging on the wall. ”

“ When the hunter got up and killed the sable it was found that the gallant antelope in defending itself with its scimitar-like horns had killed outright four valuable dogs and badly wounded four more. The strength and rapidity with which a sable bull uses its horns is a wonderful thing to see. When cornered either by a lion or dogs the sable lies down and induces the enemy to attack its flanks. ”

“ Such are the great sable hunters of Siberia, who feed indifferently on the bear, the fox, and the wolf. The sables, says Bell, are not caught in the same manner as other animals. The fur is so tender, that the least mark of an arrow, or ruffling of the hair, spoils the sale of the skin. In hunting them they only use a little dog and a net. When a hunter discovers the track of a sable upon the snow, he follows 146it sometimes for several days unintermittingly, until the poor animal, quite tired, takes refuge in some tall tree, for it can climb like a cat. ”

“ Respect shewn to dead sables. Bones of sables and beavers kept out of reach of dogs, lest the spirits of the dead animals should be offended. When Siberian sable-hunters have caught a sable, no one is allowed to see it, and they think that if good or evil be spoken of the captured sable no more sables will be caught. A hunter has been known to express his belief that the sables could hear what was said of them as far off as Moscow. ”

“ We had yet to learn what Sable’s jumping capabilities were. When I wrote next day, and told her old master that Sable had leapt the high wall and fled, the reply was that he regretted very much not having told me, that she was the most wonderful dog to jump ever he had seen or heard tell of.
Meanwhile Sable was gone. But where or whither? The country is well-wooded, but there are plenty of sheep in it. Judging from Sable’s pig-fighting qualities, I felt sure she would not starve, if she chose to feed on sheep. ”

“ The sable was evidently bent on having some porcupine meat for breakfast, and kept moving backwards and forwards, meditating a spring at the nose of its formidable antagonist; but, aware of the power of the latter’s tail, was waiting for a favourable opportunity to seize it. The porcupine, though so much larger, and naturally moving only at a slow pace, seemed aware of the superior agility of the sable, which would enable it to spring from side to side, or dash forward and attack it in front, when its armed tail would have been of no avail. ”

“ They are also gifted with magnificent coats, and constitute the most valuable source of choice furs. Sable, Marten, Mink, Wolverine, Ermine, Otters, and several others are among the most highly prized. Their claws are sharp, but not retractile. It is indeed fortunate that these creatures are so small in size, otherwise they would be among the greatest enemies of animal life. ”

“ These are generally pitfalls, with loose boards placed over them, baited with fish or flesh; fire-arms or cross-bows are more rarely used, as they damage the skins. The traps must be frequently visited, and even then the hunter often finds that a fox has preceded him, and left but a few worthless remnants of the sable in the snare. Or sometimes a snow-storm overtakes him, and then his care must be to save his own life. Thus sable-hunting is a continual chain of disappointments and perils, and at the end of the season it is frequently found that the expenses are hardly paid. ”

“ In the loneliness of the forests here, the wolf and bear roam at their pleasure, being the sovereigns of the country. Yet it is in these very regions that a great source of wealth is found—for here are various animals which yield fine and beautiful furs. The most celebrated and valuable are produced by a species of weasel, called the sable—one skin of which sometimes sells for a hundred and fifty dollars. Beside the sable, the black fox, whose skin sells for twenty to seventy-five dollars, martens of two or three kinds, and other animals, are found, which produce valuable furs ”

“ As soon as a sable touches this to seize the piece of meat or fish which is placed for a bait, the beam falls and kills it. Sables are also caught by a kind of snares that are usually laid for grouse and hares, being peculiarly partial to the seeds that are employed as bait for these animals. Nets are sometimes used. When the hunter has discovered the trace of a sable in the snow, he pursues it till he arrives at the burrow of the animal, over the mouth of which he places his net, and then by smoke compels the animal to come out, when he is secured in the net. ”

“ From the journals of fashion in London and Paris it appears that furs are very much worn abroad this winter, but hitherto we have not marked their very general adoption in New-York. The sable, ermine, and chinchilla are, as in previous years, most fashionable. Sable harmonizes well with every color of silk or velvet, and it is especially beautiful when worn with the latter material. Cloaks, when trimmed with fur, should not be either so large or so full as when ornamented with other kinds of trimming. Many are of the paletot form, and have sleeves. ”

“ It’s a common enough thing to see a woman walking on Fifth Avenue with twenty or thirty thousand dollars’ worth of furs on her. Fifty thousand is often paid for a coat of sable, and I know of one that cost two hundred thousand. I know women who have a dozen sets of furs—ermine, chinchilla, black fox, baby lamb, and mink and sable; and I know a man whose chauffeur quit him because he wouldn’t buy him a ten-thousand-dollar fur coat! And once people used to pack their furs away and take care of them ”

“ All such ornaments are carefully preserved and handed down from generation to generation, some of them being made of white sable—an exceedingly rare skin—for which high prices are paid, as much as twenty or thirty beavers or otters for one small skin. The women hold in their hands one or two eagle-feathers, and tie around the head a narrow strip of white sable. Each family, grouping itself behind its own stone lamp, chants in turn in mournful measure a song composed for the occasion. ”

“ The Sable is found in the northern parts of Asia, being especially abundant between the Lena and Kamstchatka. It differs markedly from the true Martens in the form of its head, which is conical, the apex of the cone being formed by the pointed snout, while from its base project the pointed, and, for a Mustela, large ears. The legs and feet, too, are larger and stronger than in the other species of this genus.
Sable-hunting is, naturally, a very important branch of industry, and forms the chief occupation of many of the Siberian tribes. The work is by no means an easy one ”

“ Whenever we find arctic animals which, from whatever cause, do not require protection by the white colour, then neither the cold nor the snow-glare has any effect upon their coloration. The sable retains its rich brown fur throughout the Siberian winter; but it frequents trees at that season and not only feeds partially on fruits or seeds, but is able to catch birds among the branches of the fir-trees, with the bark of which its colour assimilates. ”

“ She quickly picked it up, throwing it over my shoulders, and before I knew what had happened I was completely wrapped up in it.
"How wonderfully becoming furs are to your face, they bring out your noble lines. As soon as you cease being my slave, you must wear a velvet coat with sable, do you understand? ”

“ The skins are sold in the trade sale as martens, but as there are many that are of a very dark colour and the majority are almost as silky as the Russian sable, the retail trade has for generations back applied the term of sable to this fur. ”

“ The martens are circumpolar in distribution, and the several species occupy northern lands from England, Europe, and northern Asia to North America. Of the Old World species, the Siberian sable is best known on account of the beauty of its fine, rich fur, which renders it the most valued of all in the fur markets of the world. ”

“ I saw the claws and teeth of this lion, but the skin was not preserved as the lion had been dead some days when it was found. There is little doubt that both the sable and the roan antelopes are dangerous when cornered. A Matabele warrior was killed by a wounded cow sable in 1892, and Sergeant Chawner of the Mashunaland police was in 1890 charged by a slightly wounded bull roan which missed the rider but struck his horse through the neck and so injured it that it had to be shot. ”

“ It is nocturnal, and lives entirely in the trees of our northern forests. To procure this valuable fur, the hunters will sometimes stretch a line of traps across sixty or seventy miles of country, allowing six to ten traps for each mile! Every trap is visited about once in a fortnight. Dr. De Kay supposes that our Sable is quite distinct from the European Pine Marten, to which it is allied.
The Ermine of New York is a small creature, about one or two feet in length; in winter, it is pure white, but brown in summer. It is active and nocturnal. ”

“ The tail is long, and has a good wisp of hair at the end, which, like the tails of the Roan Antelope and the Waterbuck, swings from side to side as the animal gallops away. Like the Koodoo, the horns of the Sable are its chief glory, and the noble manner in which the head is carried by the buck when on the move is a splendid thing to see. Unlike all Deer, and nearly all Antelope, the Sable when running arches the neck instead or raising the chin ”

“ The Siberian Sable-Hunter. CHAPTER VIII. A weary journey.—​Meeting with Tungusees.—​Grand attack of wolves.—​The first sables killed.
After securing the skin of the bear, the travellers proceeded on their journey, the weather still continuing clear, but intensely cold. They were, however, well secured by furs, and they plodded cheerfully on, over the snow-crust. There was little variety, for the country was generally level, and often they marched on for hours without meeting a single object of the least interest. No villages were to be seen over the wide wastes; not a human being met the view ”

“ The sable rises upon his hind legs, puts his head into the hole, and the heavy log, set free by the dropping of the figure-four, falls and crushes the animal's skull, without injuring in the slightest degree the valuable parts of his skin. ”

“ The numerous remains of antiquity still found in Siberia prove that at a very early period it was inhabited by a people who carried on commerce, and were well-acquainted with the arts.
Conrad Gesner believed that the name sable occurs for the first time in Albertus Magnus, who wrote in the thirteenth century, under the word Cebalus, or Chebalus. In the same century Marco Polo mentions, at least in the Latin translation, zibellina pellis, as a valuable kind of fur. ”

“ They are found in Siberia, Amoor, China and Japan, but the best are from Siberia. They are light in weight and therefore suitable for linings of coats. The tails are used for artists’ “sable” brushes. The fur has often been designated as red or Tatar sable. Value 1s. 6d. to 4s. 6d.
Lambs.—The sorts that primarily interest the fur trade in Europe and America are those from south Russia, Persia and Afghanistan, which are included under the following wholesale or retail commercial terms: Persian lamb, broadtail, astrachan, Shiraz, Bokharan and caracul lamb. ”

“ The absolute length of the under-fur differs in the various species. Judging from the old and young specimens of A. nigrescens, the hairs seem to be longer, both absolutely and relatively to the under-fur, in the young than in the adult animals. The hairs of the Hair-Seals are shorter, flat, channelled above, and gradually tapering from the base to the tip, merely contracted at the insertion into the skin. The breadth of the hairs seems to vary in the different species; and in the younger specimens there are to be observed some soft hairs like the under-fur of the Fur-Seals. ”