HUNTING THE SEA OTTER. 61 



The arms par excellence for this kind of work are : 

 First, the old Kentucky muzzle-loading pea rifle with hair 

 trigger, for single shots, or, at least, a modification of it, 

 and the Winchester repeater for quick snap-shooting at 

 "breaching" otters. This may seem to many a curious 

 statement to make in these days of highly-finished breech- 

 loaders of a hundred types and fashions, and the old 

 backwoods rifle of Fenimore Cooper's heroes is considered 

 to have long been " relegated to the limbo of dead dogs." 

 But the truth of my assertion is mainly proved by the 

 adoption of this weapon for this particular sport among a 

 class of men second to none as game shots, whose life and 

 antecedents bring them in contact with most of the different 

 rifles in use. They are natives of America, where the rifle 

 is, or was then, used, and costs much less than it does in 

 England. The reasons for its being a general favourite 

 are not far to seek, for the accuracy of these long-barrelled, 

 small-bore pieces, with their small charge of powder and 

 spherical bullet, would surprise many who had not seen the 

 shooting that can be made with them up to a hundred yards, 

 and it is within that range that the otter hunter looks for a 

 telling shot, though we repeatedly made and saw kills at 

 double that distance. The sea otter, if struck in the head 

 or neck is easily dispatched, the small bullet and corres- 

 ponding charge of powder is amply sufficient for the 

 purpose. When it is remembered that the marksman has 

 to balance himself in a cockle shell of a boat in a sea rough 

 or rippling, and to shoot at a moving object no bigger than 

 a bulldog's head, it will be, perhaps, readily understood 

 that the great weight and unequal balance of such an arm 

 gives a steadiness of aim not to be obtained in one lighter 

 and more easily directed. 



These rifles could, of course, be easily converted into 

 breechloaders, and certain reminiscences of chilled fingers 

 that had to be carefully watched because they were too 

 cold to feel the bullet, and teeth used to pull the greasy 

 patches off the shoe lace on which they had been threaded, 



