



2<S Notes on Otters. [zoE 



direction of the wind, the drift of the current, etc. Then he patrols 

 the beach in the direction in which the otter is liable to come ashore, 

 and patiently waits for it to come in. This sometimes takes two 

 days, but they all of them come ashore sooner or later. He also tells 

 his comrades, who likewise watch the beach, and they always re- 

 spect each other's property. When hunters were more numerous 

 than they are at present they used to brand their bullets as an addi- 

 tional means of identification. 



In the summer season when the weather is settled the Indians of 

 the Quinault Reservation venture out into the ocean in their canoes 

 and attack the otter out at sea. The white hunters object strongly 

 to this method of hunting, as they claim it makes the otters even 

 wilder than they are at present. Undoubtedly many otters are hit 

 that get away badly wounded. This is particularly the case when 

 pursued by the Indians in their canoes. They are not as good shots 

 as the white hunters, and then they often find bands of otter and 

 shoot indiscriminately into the bunch. 



Probably the most successful white hunter on the beach is a man 

 named Wetherell, who has hunted there a long time and has killed 

 a great many otters. About half way between Gray's Harbor and 

 the Quinault River is the Copalis Rock, which stands in the ocean 

 some 600 yards from the beach. This rock has very precipitous 

 sides and its summit is perhaps forty feet above the water on a calm 

 day, but when there is a storm the great rollers come in and dash 

 themselves against this bold sentinel until the spray runs in snowy 

 cascades down his grim sides and the shock of the impact makes 

 him tremble to the very foundation. On this wild spot Wetherell 

 determined to build a house and shoot sea otter — and he did it. 



The rock can only be approached in calm weather, so with the 

 aid of some Indians and their canoes he carried lumber out there and 

 built a small hut on the highest point of the rock and securely bolted 

 it down. He carried out food and water and here he used to stay, 

 sometimes kept prisoner for three or four weeks at a time, but en- 

 joying magnificent opportunities to shoot otters as they swam by. 

 He established a code of signals and also had a blackboard on which 

 he used to write the direction a dead otter was drifting. This was 

 read by means of a glass by his confederates on shore, who picked 

 them up as they drifted in. This was a very successful stand for a 



