60 ALASKA. 



be so deeply imbued with fear of inau that it invaiiably dies 

 from self-imposed starvation. 



Their food, as might be inferred from the flat molars of denti- 

 tion, is almost entirely" comi^osed of clams, muscles, and sea- 

 urchins, of which they are very fond, and which they break by 

 striking the shells together, held in each fore paw, sucking out 

 the contents as they are fractured by these efibrts ; they also 

 undoubtedly eat crabs, and the juicy, tender fronds of kelp or 

 sea-weed, and fish. 



They are not polygamous, and more than an individual is 

 seldom seen at a time when out at sea. The flesh is verj' un- 

 palatable, highly charged with a rank smell and flavor. 



They are playful, it would seem, for I am assured by several 

 old hunters that they have watched the sea-otter for a half an 

 hour as it lay upon its back in the water and tossed a i^iece of 

 sea-weed up in the air from paw to paw, apparently taking 

 great delight in catching it before it could fall into the water. 

 It will also play with its young for hours. 



The quick hearing and acute smell possessed by the sea-otter 

 are not equaled by any other creatures in the Territory. They 

 will take alarm and leave from the effects of a small fire, four 

 or five miles to the windward of them ; and the footstep of man 

 must be washed by many tides before its trace ceases to alarm 

 the animal and drive it from lauding there should it approach 

 for that purpose. 



There are four principal methods of capturing the sea-otter, 

 viz, by surf-sliooting, by spearmg-surrounds, by cluhhing, and by 

 nets. 



The surf-shooting is the common method, but has only been 

 in vogue among the natives a short time. The young men have 

 nearly all been supplied with rifles, with which they patrol the 

 shores of the island and inlets, and whenever a sea-otter's head 

 is seen in the surf, a thousand yards out even, they fire, the 

 great distance and the noise of the surf preventing the sea- 

 otter from taking alarm until it is hit; and, in nine times 

 out of ten, when it is hit, in the head, which is all that is ex- 

 posed, the shot is fatal, and the hunter waits until the surf 

 brings his quarry in, if it is too rough for him to venture out 

 in his " bidarkie." This shooting is kept up now the whole 

 year round. 



The spearing-surround is the orthodox native system of cap- 

 ture, and reflects the highest credit upon them as bold, hardy 



