THE SEA-OTTER AND ITS EXTERMINATION 223 



in 1889 it had increased to £l2)t ^-^d in 1891 to £S7, since 

 which date the price has again risen. For specially fine 

 skins ^88 was considered a record price some years ago, 

 but now ;^iOO is by no means uncommon, and ;^200, and 

 even ^^^225, have been paid for unusually splendid specimens. 



As regards the methods of capture, clubbing and spearing 

 are probably the least wasteful, few, if any, of the animals 

 thus killed being lost. The gun is less satisfactory, as 

 many wounded animals escape to die a lingering death. 

 But the most wasteful of all is the net. Unless the animals 

 be removed from the net within a few hours after death 

 their skins are irretrievably ruined by the attacks of the 

 myriads of minute crustaceans which swarm in the Arctic 

 seas. Netting can be effected only in stormy weather, the 

 nets being stretched from the shore to some convenient 

 rocks ; and frequently it is impossible to visit them for 

 days together, when such captures as they may contain 

 are valueless. 



But the great diminution in the numbers of the sea-otter, 

 although bad enough, is by no means the most serious 

 element in the matter. Ever since the Russians took 

 possession, hunting the sea-otter has afforded the chief 

 means of livelihood to the Aleutian islanders. On this 

 point Captain Hooper writes as follows : " The decrease 

 in the yearly catch has already brought some of the settle- 

 ments to the verge of want, and if they are allowed to 

 become exterminated, actual suffering and even starvation 

 can only be averted b}/ Government aid. Properly pro- 

 tected and reserved exclusively for the use of the natives, 

 the otter, while it can probably never be brought up to 

 its former numbers, can be preserved from extermination, 

 and will furnish a means of subsistence for these people 

 for many years." 



