THE SEA-OTTER FISHERY. 491 



These At:oo people, however, make little nets, from 16 to 18 feet long and from G to 10 feet 

 wide, with a coarse <li:nm>ml-sh:ipe<l mesh, which in olden times was entirely made of sinews, but 

 at the present writing- is principally constructed of twine. They take these nets out to those kelp- 

 beds, known by them to lie favorite resorts of the otter, and spread them carelessly here and there 

 over a floating mass of the "sea cabbage". Then, ou returning, after a few days' absence, they fre- 

 quently find sea-otters entangled therein, having, as they say, died of excessive fright; for 

 were they as self-possessed as the sea-lion is when entrapped thus, they would speedily tear and 

 gnaw themselves free. Sometimes, the natives say, they have caught as many as six sea-otters at 

 one time in one of these small nets, and frequently get three, if they get anything at all. They 

 also watch for surf-holes or caves in the bluffs at tide wash, and when one is found to which a sea- 

 otter habitually resorts they set this net by spreading it over the entrance, usually succeeding in 

 capturing the animal. The salt water or the kelp seems to act as a disinfectant to the ne.t, so that 

 the smell of it does not alarm or repel the shy animal. 



DAXGEKS OF SEA-OTTER HUNTING. In conclusion it may be noted that there is no driving 

 of these animals out upon the laud ; it cannot be done. They are very fierce and courageous, and 

 when surprised by a man between themselves and the water, they will make for the sea straight, 

 without any regard for the hunter, describing their progress by a succession of short leaps that 

 cany them rapidly over the rocks, a little distance at a time. 



There is probably no chase of teriestrial or marine- animals so exhaustive and exposed as is 

 the limiting of the sea-otter in Alaska to-day; for the only periods in which man can expect with 

 reason to surprise and capture this valuable animal is immediately after or on the eve of tempests, 

 when the pounding of the surf, with a force like whirling fine shot, or briny spray in the wind, lit- 

 erally drives the tired otter to the land; but the moment the howling of the gale subsides the 

 kiilan is rested sufficiently, and, in obedience to its intensely suspicious nature, hies himself to sea 

 again. 



Therefore, in the tempest, or as it just begins to wane, must the successful Aleut hunter ven- 

 ture out. He must be a man with hardy thews and sinews, so that he can sit, if the case require 

 (and it frequently does), for forty-eight hours in his conical, shallow boat, and battle for life against 

 tin- furious gale, in order that he may hold his own and not drift to certain death into the vast 

 expanse of the great Pacific. 



The greatest care must be taken by the sea-otter hunters at Saanach and Chernolours when 

 tlic-y go down to these islands for their summer, and, more particularly, their winter campaigns. 

 They cannot, during all the six weeks or two months of their residence there at one time, light a fire 

 or boil a cup of tea unless the wind is blowing just so. They have lived thus, in the dead of a 

 severe winter, eight weeks at a time without a moment's interruption by the lighting of a tire. 

 They do not dare to smoke or use tobacco in any form, nor do they scatter or empty their food 

 refuse on or near the beaches. It must be carried inland and buried. 



Of all these details I am assured by one who is perhaps the first white eye-witness of this 

 winter hunting, as he lived ou the island through that severe hyernal season of 1S72-'T3: and, 

 though he was moderately successful, he told me that all future gain, no matter how alluring it 

 could be held up to him, would never tempt him to repeat the experience. 



