HUNTING THE SEA OTTER. 151 



southerly breeze sprung up, which changed into a strong 

 north-easterly wind before we could get the anchor up. So 

 strongly did it blow at times that it took the greater part of 

 the day beating out of the bay, and it was only late in the 

 evening when we ran down the coast, anchoring in eighteen 

 fathoms in Sandy Bay. 



The following day, although still foggy, we got five full- 

 grown otters, and during the next two days six more. 

 Most of our successes were owing to Snow's good shooting, 

 as, using our paddles, we noiselessly stole upon the otters 

 in the fog, and shot them before they could take alarm and 

 dive out of sight, chasing with such an atmosphere being 

 an impossibility. 



But at last there dawned one of those rare and much- 

 longed-for days when the fog was only intermittent, and 

 the sun blazed down upon us with almost tropical violence. 

 The sea was like glass, and a more beautiful hunting 

 morning could not have been desired. 



We left the schooner at six o'clock and did not get back 

 until after nine that night. Otters were plentiful, especially 

 in the kelp bed off the westerly point of Hitokatpu Bay. 

 The boats of the Myrtle were hunting there also, but we 

 were all too busy to speak to each other. Many of the 

 chases were long and fatiguing; and when we returned it 

 was with seven otters and a pup, not to mention sun- 

 scorched faces and arms, and good appetites. How gladly 

 would we have turned in to our bunks ; but rifles had to 

 be cleaned and otters skinned, so that we did not get a 

 chance of dinner until midnight. 



A few more days like this, sunny and fogless, with a 

 calm sea, and what sport might have been ours ! But in that 

 case the otters would either have deserted the coast or been 

 almost exterminated. 



Many seals were seen, both " hair " and " spotted " ; one 

 of the latter, a leopard seal, spotted like a Dalmatian dog, 

 was shot, but unfortunately sank before we could get 

 up to it. Many were the lamentations amongst our men, 



