Sables Animal, in zoology, a creature of the weasel-kind, called by authors mustela zibellina. See Mustela, n° 6.

The chase of these animals, in the more barbarous times of the Russian empire, was the employ, or rather task, of the unhappy exiles in Siberia. As that country is now become more populous, the fables have in a great measure quitted it, and retired farther north and east, to live in desert forests and mountains: they live near the banks of rivers, or in the little islands in them; on this account they have, by some, been supposed to be the ξακελίον of Aristotle (Hist. An. lib. viii. c. 5.), which he classes with the animals conversant among waters.

At present the hunters of sables form themselves into troops, from five to 40 each: the last subdivide into lesser parties, and each chooses a leader; but there is one that directs the whole: a small covered boat is provided for each party, loaded with provisions, a dog and net for every two men, and a vessel to bake their bread in: each party also has an interpreter for the country they penetrate into. Every party then sets out according to the course their chief points out: they go against the streams of the rivers, drawing their boats up, till they arrive in the hunting country; there they stop, build huts, and wait till the waters are frozen, and the season commences: before they begin the chase, their leader assembles them, they unite in a prayer to the Almighty for success, and then separate: the first sable they take is called God's sable, and is dedicated to the church.

They then penetrate into the woods; mark the trees as they advance, that they may know their way back; and in their hunting-quarters form huts of trees, and bank up the snow round them: near these they lay their traps; then advance farther, and lay more traps, still building new huts in every quarter, and return successively to every old one to visit the traps and take out the game to skin it, which none but the chief of the party must do: during this time they are supplied with provisions by persons who are employed to bring it on sledges, from the places on the road, where they are obliged to form magazines, by reason of the impracticability of bringing quantities through the rough country they must pass. The traps are a sort of pitfall, with a loose board placed over it, baited with fish or flesh: when fables grow scarce, the hunters trace them in the new-fallen snow to their holes; place their nets at the entrance; and sometimes wait, watching two or three days for the coming out of the animal: it has happened that these poor people have, by the failure of their provisions, been so pinched with hunger, that, to prevent the cravings of appetite, they have been reduced to take two thin boards, one of which they applied to the pit of the stomach, the other to the back, drawing them tight together by cords placed at the ends: such are the hardships our fellow-creatures undergo to supply the wantonness of luxury.

The season of chase being finished, the hunters reassemble, make a report to their leader of the number of fables each has taken; make complaints of offenders against their regulations; punish delinquents; share the booty; then continue at the head-quarters till the rivers are clear of ice; return home, and give to every church the dedicated furs.

**SABLE Cape**, the most southerly province of Nova Scotia, in North America, near which is a fine cod-fishery. W. Long. 65° 34' N. Lat. 43° 24'.

Sable Isle is adjoined to this cape, and the coasts of both are most commodiously situated for fisheries.

**SABLE Trade**, the trade carried on in the skins or furs of fables; of which the following commercial history was translated by Mr J. R. Forster from a Russian performance on that subject by Mr Muller.

"Sable, fable, in Russian; zobel in German. Their price varies from 1l. to 10l. Sterling, and above: fine and middling fable-skins are without bellies, and the coarsest ones are with them. Forty skins make a collection called zimmer. The finest fables are sold in pairs perfectly similar, and are dearer than single ones of the same goodness; for the Russians want those in pairs for facing caps, cloaks, tippets, &c., the blackest are reputed the best. Sables are in season from November to February; for those caught at any other time of the year are short-haired, and then called medafoboli. 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 skin has of such long hairs, the blacker it is, and the more valuable is the fur; the very best have no other but those long and black hairs. Motchka is a technical term used in the Russian fur-trade, expressing the lower part of the long hairs; and sometimes it comprehends likewise the lower and shorter hairs: the above-mentioned best fable furs are said to have a black motchka. Below the long hairs are, in the greater part of the fable-furs, some shorter hairs, called podofit, i.e. under-os; the more podosie a fur has, it is the least valuable: in the better kind of fables the podofie has black tips, and a grey or rusty motchka. The first kind of motchka makes the middling kind of fable furs; the red one the worst, especially if it has but few os. Between the os and podofie is a low woolly kind of hair, called podfada. The more podfada a fur has, the least valuable: for the long hair will, in such case, take no other direction than the natural one; for the characters of fable is, that notwithstanding the hair naturally lies from the head towards the tail, yet it will lie equally in any direction as you strike your hand over it. The various combinations of these characters, in regard to os, motchka, podosie, and podfada, make many special divisions in the goodness of furs: besides this, the furriers attend to the size, preferring always, catenis paribus, the biggest, and those that have the greatest glofs. The size depends upon the animal being a male or a female, the latter being always smaller. The glofs vanishes in old furs: the fresh ones have a kind of bloomy appearance, as they express it; the old ones are said to have done blooming: the dyed fables always lose their glofs; become less uniform, whether the lower hairs have taken the dye or not; and commonly the hairs are somewhat twisted or crisped, and not so straight as in the natural ones. Some fumigate the skins, to make them look blacker; but the smell, and the crisped condition of the long hair, betrays the cheat; and both ways are detected by rubbing the fur with a moist linen cloth, which grows black in such cases.

"The Chinese have a way of dyeing the fables, so that the colour not only lasts (which the Russian cheats cannot do), but the fur keeps its glofs, and the crisped hairs only discover it. This is the reason that all the fables, which are of the best kind, either in pairs or separate, are carried to Russia; the rest go to China. The very best fables come from the environs of Nerchinsk and Yakutsk; and in this latter district, the country about the river Ud affords sometimes fables, of whom one single fur is often sold at the rate of 60, or 70 rubles, 12l. or 14l. The bellies of fables, which are sold in pairs, are about two fingers breadth, and are tied together by 40 pieces, which are sold from 1l. to 2l. Sterling. Tails are sold by the hundred. The very best fable-furs must have their tails; but ordinary fables are often cropped, and 100 sold from 4l. to 8l. Sterling. The legs or feet of fables are seldom sold separately; white fables are rare, and no common merchandise, but bought only as curiosities: some are yellowish, and are bleached in the spring on the snow."

in heraldry, signifies "black;" and is borrowed from the French, as are most terms in this science: in engraving it is expressed by both horizontal and perpendicular lines crossing each other. Sable of itself signifies constancy, learning, and grief; and ancient heralds will have it, that when it is compounded with

Or Arg. Gul. Azu. Ver. Pur.

Honour. Fame. Respect. Application. Comfort. Austerity.

The occasion that introduced this colour into heraldry is thus related by Alexander Nifhet, p. 8. The duke of Anjou, king of Sicily, after the loss of that kingdom, appeared at a tournament in Germany all in black, with his shield of that tincture, féme de larmes, i.e. besprinkled with drops of water, to represent tears, indicating by that both his grief and loss.