339 



yet respecting the habits and life of which nothing definite has 

 been ascertained or published. The reason for this is obvious, 

 for, save the natives who hunt them, no one properly qualified 

 has ever had an opportunity of seeing the sea-otter so as to 

 study it in a state of nature, for, of all the shy, sensitive beasts, 

 upon the capture of which man sets any value, this creature is 

 the most keenly on the alert and difficult to obtain : and, like 

 the fur-seal in this Territory, it possesses the enhancing value 

 of being principally confined to our country. A truthful ac- 

 count of the strange, vigilant life of the sea-otter, and of the 

 hardships and perils encountered by its hunters, would surpass 

 in novelty and interest the most attractive work of fiction. 



" When the Russian traders opened up the Aleutian Islands, 

 they found the natives commonly wearing sea-otter cloaks, 

 which they parted with at first for a trifle, not placing any 

 especial value on the animal, as they did the hair-seal and the 

 sea-lion, the hair and skin of which were vastly more palatable 

 and serviceable to them j but the offers of the greedy traders 

 soon set the natives after them. During the first few years the 

 numbers of these animals taken all along the Aleutian Chain, 

 and down the whole northwest coast as far as Oregon, were 



our service. The tollowiug matter constitutes Chap. V, pp. 54-62, of Mr. 

 Henry W. Elliott's '' Report on the Condition of Affairs in the Territory of 

 Alaska", 8vo, Washington, Government Printing Office, 1875. Mr. Elliott 

 has proven a trustworthy observer and zealous naturalist, and had excellent 

 opportunities of studying the whole subject during his long residence in 

 Alaska as special agent of the Treasury Department, charged with the Gov- 

 ernment interests in the Fur Seal Fisheries. 



A quotation from Sir John Richardson (Fn. Bor.-Am. p. 59), touching the 

 early aspects of the Sea Otter business, will not be here out of place : — 



*• The fur of the Sea Otter being very handsome, was much esteemed by 

 the Chinese, and, until the market at Canton was overstocked, prime skins 

 brought extraordinarily high prices. The trade for a considerable period 

 was in the hands of the Russians, who soon after the discovery of the north- 

 west coast of America, by Beering Isicl and Tschirikow, sent mercantile 

 expeditions hither. Captain Cook's third voyage drew the attention of 

 English speculators to that quarter, and vessels were freighted both by 

 private adventurers and the India Company, for the purpose of collecting 

 furs and conveying them to Canton. Pennant, alluding to this traffic, says, 

 ' What a profitable trade (with China) might not a colony carry on, were it 

 possible to penetrate to that part of America by means of rivers and lakes.' 

 The event that Pennant wished for soon took place. Sir Alexander Mac- 

 kenzie having traversed the continent of America, and gained the coast of 

 the Pacific, his partners in trade followed up his success, by establishing fur 

 posts in New Caledonia, and a direct commerce with China; but the influx 

 of furs into that market soon reduced their price." 



