obliged to
furnish a certain number of skins every year, and are punished if the
proper quantity is not provided.

The sable is also killed by the Russian soldiers, who are sent into
those parts for the purpose. They are taxed a certain number of skins
yearly, and are obliged to shoot with only a single ball, to avoid
spoiling the skin, or else with cross-bows and blunt arrows. As an
encouragement to the hunters, they are allowed to share among
themselves the surplus of those skins which they thus procure; and
this, in the process of six or seven years, amounts to a considerable
sum. A colonel, during his seven years' stay, gains about four thousand
crowns for his share, and the common men earn six or seven hundred
each.

THE SKUNK.

Of this animal there are several varieties upon the American continent,
to which it is confined; though we have but one in this quarter of the
United States. This is of the size of a cat, and striped with black and
white. Its celebrity depends exclusively upon its peculiar mode of
defence--that of discharging upon its foe a liquid of the most
revolting and intolerable odor, and of such vigor as to fill the air
for half a mile around.

Some years ago, a Frenchman, who had settled at Hartford, Connecticut,
was going home from Wethersfield, a place renowned for raising
_onions_. It was evening, and in the twilight the man saw a little
animal crossing the path before him. Not knowing or suspecting its
character, he darted upon it, caught it, and put it in his pocket. When
he reached home, he took it out, and a general exclamation of
astonishment burst from the household, at the extraordinary flavor of
the little beast. "What is it?" "What can it be?"--was the general
inquiry. "I cannot say," said the Frenchman; "but I suppose it must be
a _Wethersfield_ kitten!"

On a certain occasion, Dr. B----, an eminent divine, was walking at
evening in a by-way, when he saw a small animal trotting along before
him. He easily guessed its true character, and having a volume of
Rees's Cyclopedia under his arm, he hurled it with all his might at the
suspicious quadruped. It took effect, but the animal retorted by
discharging, both upon the Cyclopedia and the D.D., a shaft from his
abominable quiver. It seems that the event made an indelible impression
both upon the garments and the memory of the divine; the former he
buried; and when, some years after, he was advised to write a book
against a rival