Different fpe-
cies o f Foxes.
As thefe furs fetch fo great a price to the Chinefe,
they are feldom brought into Ruflia for fale : and feve-
ral, which have been carried to Mofcow as a tribute, were
purchafed for 30 Roubles per fk in ; and fent from
thence to the Chinefe frontiers, where they were difpofed
of at a very high intereft.
There are feveral fpecies o f Foxes, whofe Reins are
fent from Kamtchatka into Siberia and Ruffia. Of thefe
the principal are the black foxes, the Petfi or Ardtie
foxes, the red and ftone foxes.
The fineft black foxes are caught in .different parts
of Siberia, and more commonly in the Northern regions
between the Rivers Lena, Indigirka, and Kovyma : the
black foxes found upon the remoteft Ealtern iflands
difeovered by the Ruffians, or the Lyffie Oftrova, are not
fo valuable. They are very black and large; but the
coat for the moll part is as coarfe as that of a wolf.
The great difference in the finenefs of the fur, between
thefe foxes and thofe of Siberia, arifes probably
from the following circumftances. In thofe iflands
the cold is not fo fevere as in Siberia; and as
there is no wood, the foxes live in holes and caverns
of the rocks; whereas in the abovemention ed
parts of Siberia, there are large tradls of forefts in
which they find flielter. Some black foxes how-
* S. R. G. V. III. Pallas Reife.
ever are occafionally caught in the remoteft Eaftern
Iflands, not wholly deftitute of wood, and thefe are
of great value. In general the Chinefe, who pay the
deareft for black furs, do not give more for the black
foxes of the new-difeovered iflands than from 20 to
30 Roubles per fkin..
The ardticor ice foxes are very common upon fome of
the New-Difcovered Iflands. They are called Petfi by the
Ruffians, and by the Germans blue foxes. Their natural
colour is o f a bluifli grey or afh colour ; but they change
their coat at different ages, and in différèrent feafons of
the year. In general they are born brown, are white in
winter, and brown in fummer ; and in fpring and autumn,
as the hair gradually falls off, the coat is marked with
different fpecks and croffes.
At Kiachta* all the feveral varieties fell upon an average
to the Chinefe per fkin from 5 o
copecs to - - - 2 ~ Roubles.
Stone Foxes at Kamtchatka per fkin
from - i to- 2 A.
Red Foxes from 80 copecs to x 80 copecs.
At Kiachta from 80 copecs to 9
Common wolves fkins at per fkin. 2
Beft fort per fkin from — 8 to 16
Sables per ditto - — 2 { to 10
* Pallas Reife.