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one of the Company's traders Kojevnikoff who has come from Nulato with his son and two Ingaliks bringing furs and to take some goods.
-Dec.17-
The fun brought by Kojevnikoff were examined in the a.m. Among them were a number of Red & cross foxes and two Black foxes. also several hundred marten and mink with an otter or two.  The marten present an almost endless variation in color which extends form a dark chestnut with a black gloss through yellow and yellowish brown to a rich, deep orange.  In all cases the long [[strikethrough]]black[[/strikethrough]] hairs of the back & sides are black or nearly black thus shading the lighter fur beneath.  Some of the marten were only recently caught still had the stretching sticks still in them, their peculiar and ingenious make drew my attention and I kept some for specimens  The mouth of the marten is not large enough to admit a frame large enough to stretch the skin and as no incision must be made in the skin, the indians surmount the difficulty by making the following kind of a frame:- [[drawing]] open as in the skin
[[drawing]] as put in the skin
The frame [[strikethrough]]it[[/strikethrough]] is fastened together by a cross bar near each end and these bars are partly cut through then bent and each end of the cross bar being cut & so bent and the ends attached to the side pieces forms a hinge by means

Transcription Notes:
[[drawing: sketch of frame open as in the skin]] [[drawing: sketch of frame as put in the skin]]