454 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



was not then killed, and attempted to dive, the spear-point 

 and bladder came off the handle, and the creature had to 

 try and bear the pain of the one, and overcome the difficul- 

 ty of sinking the other. When it had been planted with 

 two large bladders it could not go far beneath the surface, 

 owing to their buoyancy, so was made a prisoner in a short 

 time. " This is the method generally applied by this tribe 

 in hunting all marine animals ; and that it is successful is 

 evident by the amount they earn during the hunting sea- 

 son that being often from twenty to one hundred dollars 

 a day per man, if the weather and luck are at all favorable. 



When the Indians intend to surprise a rookery of otters, 

 they generally select a tempestuous day for their enter- 

 prise, as their chances of success are then the greater. 

 Placing provisions and short heavy clubs in their canoes, 

 they land on the islets as silently as possible, and, when 

 they find the animals, the clubs are plied with such vigor 

 that they frequently kill from thirty to one hundred before 

 the remainder can seek refuge in the seething ocean. Such 

 enterprises are frequently attended with danger, for many 

 a red man finds a watery grave where he went to find a 

 treasure. 



The peltries secured are, when dried, sold to the fur 

 companies for sums ranging from thirty to one hundred 

 dollars. A good skin is about six feet by four, exclusive 

 of the tail, as that is always sold separately, it being gener- 

 ally given as a douceur to the wife. Some otters attain a 

 length of seven feet, however, but they are the giants of 

 their family. 



Large numbers of these animals were killed formerly; 

 but they have become so scarce of late, owing to the war 

 waged against them, that it would seem as if they must 

 soon become unknown. Behring's sailors were most inde- 

 fatigable in pursuing them, as it seemed to open up an in- 

 exhaustible source of wealth ; and the result was that near- 

 ly 115,000 skins were taken in the eleven years from 1786 

 to 1797, so that many of the men realized in this pursuit 

 what was a fortune to them in Russia. Not more than a 



