Note 2 — Chapter XXV · YAKUTSK.
Reading edition
There are, says M. Réclus, nearly 50 species of fur animals, and millions of specimens killed during the hunting season. The annual export of furs from Siberia, not including those taken from sea animals, represents a gross value of nearly half a million sterling. The fur which regulates the price of all others is that of the sable, which is worth at least from 16s. to £1, and sometimes commands, even in Siberia, as much as £6 a skin. Only the back of the animal is used for the best garments, one of which may contain 80 skins, and rise to the value of nearly £500. The fur of the black fox is still more appreciated, and a single skin sometimes fetches £30. Squirrel skins by themselves constitute about a third of the Siberian revenue from furs; ten, twelve, and even fifteen millions of these animals being killed during their migrations in a single year. China receives a considerable number of these skins at Kiakhta, but more find their way to Europe. The furs brought to the fair of Irbit in the Urals in 1876 were as follows:—
Grey squirrels 5,000,000 skins
Ermines 215,000 ”
Hares 300,000 ”
Foxes 82,000 ”
Martens of various kinds 750,000 ”
Sables 12,000 ”
Others 200,000 ”