6 HUNTING THE SEA OTTER. 



an unusually dangerous one, being subject to the most 

 violent and sudden storms, powerful currents, and impene- 

 trable fogs. A few sea otters were found as far south as 

 Skotan, a few round Kunashir, and a sufficient number off 

 Yetorup and Urup to make hunting profitable. A black 

 or silver-grey fox, the most valuable of all the fur-bearing 

 animals, was shot on Skotan, though, unfortunately, in its 

 summer coat. Altogether, in spite of his loss, the 

 prospects were sufficiently good to cause the captain to 

 express his intention of returning the following year with 

 another vessel, solely for the purpose of sea otter hunting ; 

 while the description he gave of the manner in which the 

 chase was carried on, together with the united charms of 

 healthful sea life, the excitement of the hunt, and the 

 pleasure of exploration, were alluring in the extreme. 



Perhaps, the very meagreness of the information obtained, 

 with its unavoidable poverty of detail, leaving so much to 

 the imagination, only added to the fascination of an enter- 

 prise which, while promising an amount of sport of a most 

 original description with sufficient danger to give a spice 

 to it, would not improbably result in reimbursement for the 

 heavy outlay demanded. The wish to try the experiment 

 was strengthened by repeated conversations with a friend 

 of kindred tastes ; and at length it was determined that, in 

 the event of being able to find a suitable vessel and this 

 was no mean difficulty a pioneering expedition should be 

 dispatched on our own account, with as perfect an equip- 

 ment as the lateness of the season and the difficulties to be 

 surmounted would permit. 



We were both of that age when success seems almost 

 a foregone conclusion, and failure appears but as a re- 

 mote contingency, easily to be warded off even when at 

 hand. So the venture, in which I could not personally 

 participate, owing to a Government appointment which 

 would not terminate till the spring of the following 

 year, was undertaken by my companion, with his usual 

 energy; and a small pilot schooner, the only vessel 



