346 NORTH AMERICAN MUSTELID.E. 



otter from taking alarm uutil it is bit ; and in nine times out 

 of ten, when it is hit, in the head, which is all that is exposed, 

 the shot is fatal, and the hunter waits until the surf brings his 

 quarry in, if it is too rough for him to venture out in his 

 ' bidarkie.' This shooting is kept up now the whole year 

 round. 



"The spearing-surround is the orthodox native system of cap- 

 ture, and reflects the highest credit upon them as bold, hardy 

 watermen. A party of fifteen or twenty bidarkies, with two 

 men in each, as a rule, all under the control of a chief elected 

 by common consent, start out in pleasant weather, or when it 

 is not too rough, and spread themselves out in a long line, 

 slowly paddling over the waters where sea-otters are most 

 usually found. When any one of them discovers an otter, 

 asleep, most likely, in the water, he makes a quiet signal, and 

 there is not a word spoken or a paddle splashed while they are 

 on the hunt. He darts toward the animal, but generally the 

 alarm is taken by the sensitive object, which instantly dives 

 before the Aleut can get near enough to throw his spear. The 

 hunter, however, keeps right on, and stops his canoe directly 

 over the spot where the otter disappeared. The others, tak- 

 ing note of the position, all deploy and scatter in a circle of 

 half a mile wide around the mark of departure thus made, and 

 l)atiently wait for the re-appearance of the otter, which must 

 take place within fifteen or thirty minutes, for breath ; and as 

 soon as this happens the nearest one to it darts forward in the 

 same manner as his i)redecessor, when all hands shout and 

 throw their spears, to make the animal dive again as quickly 

 as possible, thus giving it scarcely an instant to recover itself. 

 A sentry is placed over its second diving-wake as before, and 

 the circle is drawn anew j and the surprise is often repeated, 

 sometimes for two or three hours, until the sea-otter, from 

 interrupted respiration, becomes so tilled with air or gases 

 that lie cannot sink, and becomes at once an easy victim. 



'' The coolness with which these Aleuts will go far out to 

 sea in their cockle-shell kyacks, and risk the approach of 

 gales that are as apt to be against them as not, with a mere 

 handful of food and less water, is remarkable. They are cer- 

 tainly as hardy a set of hunters, patient and energetic, as can 

 be found in the world. 



" The clubbing is only done in the winter-season, and then 

 at infrequent intervals, which occur when tremendous gales of 



