102 HUNTING THE SEA OTTER. 



The track is covered with the bones of the sea lions 

 which have perished during the many drives ; for even when 

 very carefully driven, many, exhausted by their un- 

 accustomed exertions, fall out and die ; while with careless 

 and hurried driving the mortality is very great. We were 

 also lucky when the fog was at its thickest in getting a fine 

 bull otter ; it was heard mewing, like a huge cat, from the 

 deck, Snow and I with our men quickly dropped into 

 two boats, and, directed by the cries, which continued at 

 intervals, managed to get sight of him, when the former put 

 a bullet through his head, killing him instantaneously. A 

 fortunate haul, for had he once caught sight of us, we should 

 never have seen him again in such weather. Leaving the 

 schooner early next morning, we found the fog, though 

 seemingly as dense as ever, curiously patchy and cloudlike, 

 besides being much thinner on the immediate surface of the 

 water ; the range of vision being more extensive from the 

 boats than from the deck of the vessel. Several otters were 

 seen, but only one secured ; the others escaping in the 

 gloom, which grew deeper as the day advanced. 



We had not gone far on our way back, keeping touch of 

 the shore, when we came across a small schooner at 

 anchor. It proved to be the Buffandeau, of San Francisco ; 

 all the boats were out hunting, leaving Captain Sherry 

 alone on board. We went below to have a chat, and the 

 captain produced a jar of liquid, in colour and consistency 

 exactly resembling sulphuric acid, remarking hospitably, as 

 he tossed off his own solution, " Drink hearty, boys, drink 

 hearty," by way of a toast. 



Now, the imperative calls of liquid hospitality, so general 

 in the East, which sees in a refusal to poison oneself a 

 studied insult, had at different times brought us face to 

 face, or rather face to glass, with many mysterious 

 productions of the still and the laboratory, such as 

 petroleum champagne, potato brandy, and kerosene gin ; 

 but, having experimented with sulphuric acid in our youth, 

 had hitherto drawn the line at vitriolic compounds. Indeed, 



