GROUP OF THE OTTERS. 



233 



of Kamchatka and northern California, but 

 it seems likely soon to disappear entirely in 

 consequence of the senseless pursuit carried 

 on against this gentle and intelligent animal. 

 Steller, who suffered shipwreck on Behring's 

 Island in the middle of last century, and 

 was there obliged to support himself and his 

 companions in misfortune for a year at the 

 expense of the numerous sea-otters, has given 

 us an account of this animal before the ap- 

 pearance of man. A truly idyllic picture! 

 The mothers play with their young ones, 

 follow them to their death, and pine away 

 over their loss. The males caress the females 

 tenderly. The societies live in perfect har- 

 mony, bask in the sun, and lead a careless 

 and happy life. They sleep without fear in 

 the vicinity of man, rolling themselves up 

 like dogs. They show themselves annoyed 

 when their retreat to the sea is cut off, 

 scarcely defend themselves against attack, 

 caress even the hand of the man who is pre- 

 paring to strike them dead, and roguishly 

 feign death when they have received a stroke, 

 getting up afterwards and making their escape 

 when one's back is turned. At the end of 

 a year of continuous massacre, in the course 

 of which more than 700 head were killed and 

 consumed, the sea-otter knows what man is. 

 It has retired to the most inaccessible parts 

 of the island. The companies place sentinels 

 to watch during their sleep, and when warned 

 by a shrill piping sound they all plunge at 

 once into the sea, the immediate neighbour- 

 hood of which they now never quit. Only in 

 very stormy nights, when the howling of the 

 hurricane and the raging of the sea drown 

 all other sounds, can they be surprised by 

 cautiously creeping up against the wind. 



At the present day, according to the 

 account of H. W. Elliott, two-thirds of the 

 sea-otter skins of commerce come from two 

 small islands on the coasts of Alaska. The 

 sea-otters land only on the most retired cliffs 

 washed by surging waves. They no longer 

 venture to the middle island, the only habit- 

 able one, they sleep on the water on tangle, 

 and keep such strict watch that the hunters 

 are compelled to expose themselves to the 

 severest privations, to light no 'fire, never to 

 smoke, to sleep in pits in the snow, in short 

 to lead a life full of hardship and danger to 

 get a few rare skins. The animal which in 

 the time of Steller was the most careless and 

 confiding of creatures, is now a model of 

 wiliness and wariness. Is it possible to 

 maintain that this animal has learned nothing? 

 "The quick hearing and acute smell pos- 

 sessed by the sea-otter," says Elliott, "are 

 not equalled by any other creatures in the 

 Territory. They will take alarm and leave 

 from the effects of a small fire four or five 

 miles to the windward of them, and the foot- 

 step of man must be washed by the tide 

 many times before its trace ceases to alarm 

 the animal, and drive it from landing there 

 should it approach for that purpose." 



Sea-otters are shot with bullets through 

 the head; they are surrounded by boats and 

 transfixed with spears; they are felled with 

 clubs during the terrible storms of these 

 regions, where they hide on the shore amid 

 heaps of tangle; they are even caught in 

 nets. But the yield of this hunt is diminish- 

 ing so much from year to year that the 

 government of the United States has already 

 taken measures to protect this valuable 

 animal from complete extinction. 



