150 HUNTING THE SEA OTTER. 



round us, screaming loudly, but generally keeping at a 

 respectful distance. 



By hiding under the overhanging ledge of a detached 

 rock, while Baker withdrew for a short distance, I got a 

 steady shot at the male bird as he sailed overhead on 

 outstretched wings, and sent a bullet through its breast. 

 We had some difficulty in finding the body in the long 

 grass, which grew in rank luxuriousness as high as our 

 shoulders, until Rover came to our assistance and soon 

 showed us where he was. I could see little, if any, differ- 

 ence between it and our Scottish white-tailed eagle. 



Returning we made up a large bunch of flowers, which 

 brightened up the cabin for some days. Sweet peas, 

 sweetly-scented wild roses, yellow lilies, and iris composed 

 our bouquet. There were also some tall flowering plants, 

 six feet high, in full blossom, resembling the balsams so 

 common in every little English greenhouse. 



In passing Onabetzu, as the fisherman's house at Jap 

 Bay is called, we found several Japanese fishermen drinking 

 saki, and decidedly hilarious. Some were dancing, a bad 

 sign, if Cicero is correct that " no sane man dances unless 

 he is drunk." They were very hospitable, and insisted upon 

 us joining them until our boat arrived from the schooner. 

 But drunkenness, even when hilarious, is repulsive, especially 

 in such a wild and desolate scene, so we were glad to 

 divert their attention by putting up a mark and firing at it 

 with their primitive matchlocks. 



We made fairly good shooting at close range ; but their 

 powder was execrably bad, and the bullets none too spherical. 

 Baker literally brought down the house when, with a bullet 

 from his own rifle, he doubled up a seagull sitting about a 

 hundred and fifty yards off upon the shore.. We embarked 

 amidst a chorus of admiration and applause. 



For five long days we were compelled to stick to our 

 anchorage, without the slightest chance of hunting; for there 

 was not a breath of wind, land and sea being literally 

 blanketed in fog. And right glad we were when a good 



