Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1898-08-04
COST OF SABLES.
How the Price Advances After the Skin
Leaves Siberia.

How the Price Advances After the Skin |
Leaves Siberia.
Up IL the great watershed dividing |
Siberia and Mongolia lives peculiar
race Of people, half Chinese, half lib
etans. Few Europeans have ever seen
them. In fact, with the exception of one
or two enterprising explorers or geo.
graphical enthusiasts who have crossed
the Altai range, European eyes have
never gazed upon the aboriginal Syots
of northern Mongolia.
Sable hunting in the Siberian noun
tains and northern Mongolia is confined
almost exclusively to the ayots and 9TH
er native races, and it would surprise a
good many fur dealers in England to
know the prices which are paid by the
Siberian traders to these poor aborlglnes
for the skins they collect
The Siberian trader, knowing his
market, makes periodical journeys into
Mongolia. 1t is safe to say he does not
take kopek Of money with him, but he
drags behind him q well stuffed caravan
loaded with tea, tobacco, gunpowder
and shot, strings of beads for the wom-
EN- and roughly made Inoccasins for the
men. In due course he will come across
d Eyot encampment.
The trader sits On his wagon and bar
tiers cheerfully. With the eye Of con-
noisseur and with fingers rendered deft
by long practice he sees and feels the
smooth, warm skins Of the little ami
mails.
This small black one-well, a two
ounce packet of tobacco is enough for
| that; that large black one-a handful
| Of shot and an equal quantity OF gun
powier; packet of tea for lovely
skin with long black stripe down the
| center; this one, fine akin. but lit
| tie bit hurt by the shot entering the
blackwell, say string OF beads for
Mat.
In their original undressed state 1t IL
safe to say that the skins do not cost
the Siberian trader much more than a
few pence each on the average. AS the
Door sable travels farther westward,
| however, he gets dearer and dearer. In
Tomsk one can buy a very good sable
for something like OF 8 rubles. about
13s. In Omsk few are sold under 10 ru
bles-e1 is. In Moscow 100 per CEN
goes on. In. St. Petersburg no one ex
cept the middle class or functionary
would wear a sable under e5. In Pari
and London real Siberian sable skin
will fetch anything up to $40, but tn
imitation sables of the present day hav
done much to depreciate this wonderful
trade. London Mail.
, asses heads''-a costly experiment an
, fearsome if successful.
But, besides this, one can "make pee
pie seem headlesse," and this withou
!, bloodshed and by the following simpl
receipt: ''Break arsenick very fine, an
boyle it with sulphur in cover'd pot
! and kindle it with a new candle, an
!, the standers-by will seem to be head
lesse.'' Doubtless strong imaginatio
is necessary for success.
Some of the tricks are such as woul
nowadays cause the performer to b
} disliked, to put it mildly. For instance
"have nut filled with ink, and Civ
, this unto another and bid him crack
and see what he can find in that,
!, which being done twill cause muc
5 laughter.
s'To keep Tapster from frothing h
| | Potts. must have been an amusement
, the wags of the period, and for TIL
"provide in readinesse the skin of a re
{ Herring, and when the Tapster is abse1
do but rub little on the inside Of h
9 pots, and he will not be able to frot
D them, do what he can, i'll good viii
S after
: "To counterfeit diamond with
] white saphir'' is most useful accom-
plishment, but the fraud is likely
( these days to be discovered and is mo-
n chemical experiment than a trick.
n Several tricks are recommended whle
n have animals as their subject and a.
r for the most part brutal to our model
Q ideas. Perhaps the least objectionab
{ is "to seem to kill Horse and cure hi
again. which may be thus accor
d plished:
. "Take the seed of henbane and gil
q | it the Horse in his Provender, and
+ ! will cast him into such a deep sle'
s that he will seem dead. If you will T
: cover him again, rub his Nostrils wi
q Vinegar, and he will seem to be +
). viyed.'' The "seem to be revived
d sounds rather ominous, and it is to
O noted that the correct quantity OF he
# bane is not mentioned, SO that it mig
a be best to try this experiment on SOL
one else's horse.
|. "To make shoal of Goslings draw
!. Timber logge' sounds interesting, b
4 unfortunately the directions are vagu
"a "To make shoal Of Goslings or Ga
II gle of Geese to seem to draw limb
k logge is dore by the verie means tn
= Is us'd when Cat draws fool throui
Pond, but handled sonewha- furth
off from the Beholders. " - Lond
Standard.