HUNTING THE SEA OTTER. 161 



the water, and, holding up my hand to stop the rowing and 

 steady the boat, I took a steady aim and put a bullet 

 through its head. 



The boat was sharply backed to the edge of the beach, 

 where a small stream emptied itself into the sea, and, 

 jumping into the surf, I made my way as quickly as 

 possible back over the rocks, just in time to lay hold of a 

 large sea otter, for such it was that the waves were rapidly 

 bearing off. This was doubly fortunate, for once it had 

 reached the water alive it would inevitably have been lost 

 in the dense fog, while if the sea had once got possession, 

 it is doubtful, considering the great depth of water within a 

 few yards of the shore, whether we should ever have seen 

 it again. For although, unlike the seal, the sea otter rarely 

 sinks when shot, we had already experienced one or two 

 occasions in which they did so. When shot dead, the 

 head drops at once, retaining what air there was in the 

 lungs and body, while those we lost was after a long chase, 

 the head being last to disappear. 



Though differing somewhat in detail, we found all of the 

 hunters practically unanimous in their opinion as to the 

 strictly pelagic character and habits of the sea otter ; some 

 declaring that they never, under any circumstances, were 

 found out of the water ; others that they sometimes were, 

 but very rarely ; and others, again, that it was only when 

 dying or very seriously injured that they sought the land. 



The correctness of this is borne out to some extent by 

 the structure of the animal, neither the hind, seal-like 

 flippers nor the small, short fore-feet being adapted for the 

 land. Upon examination of the body that night, when 

 skinning it, we were inclined to the last belief, for we found 

 the body, which was that of a full-grown female, or cow 

 as they called it, dreadfully emaciated, having literally no 

 flesh at all, while one shoulder and one hind flipper were 

 broken. How the poor creature had got into such a state 

 it was impossible to conjecture. But she had evidently 

 swum to the shore and been left by the receding tide, and 



M 



