HUNTING. 



375 



am^l* fo 



the i. 





> -. 



which re sought only for the value of their fur?, with- 

 out any regard to the species to which they belong. 

 These are more particularly of the weasel tribe, the 

 Music! i of nati : 1'he fur of some of these, as 



the ermine *ab!e and sea otter, are of the finest quality, 

 and always bear a very high price. A large portion of 

 the revenue derived by Russia from her Siberian pos- 

 ii Minn consists in the skin of the fable only. But 



g it is a more tedious occupation than the cap- 

 i' any of the animal* hitherto named, a* it occupies 

 the hunters a whole year at a time. Companies of from 

 6 to SO men agree to hunt together, and they ascend the 

 river UY.im and two subsidiary streams, dragging boat* 

 capable of containing 3 or 4 people, and their provisions 

 along with them, as far as the Lake Oronne. There 

 tlsny erect butt, and constitute a leader, to whom the 

 whole promise implicit obedience. The party subdivides 

 to hunt in different districts, and in this second excur- 

 sion small huts banked up with snow are built, while all 

 are occupied in constructing traps. As the sable is a car- 

 nivorous animal, they are suitably baited and set; and 

 being so devised that the slightest touch en-urn its 

 capture, they are seldom long empty : but should the 

 hunUmin be unsaccessful in this manner, he is con- 

 ducted by the tract of the sable in the snow to its bur- 

 row, from which being dislodged by a piece of smoking 

 wood, it falls into a net spread for it, and there the hunts- 

 man kills it with tiis dog. Smoke is never used where 

 there is only one bole to the barrow, as the sable would 

 rather perish than cone forth. Sometimes it runs up a 

 tree, which ease is then cut down, the huntsman again 

 syfiisjiticg his toils in the direction in which it is to Ull ; 

 or he employs blunt arrows to shoot toe sable, whereby 

 its skin is preserved from injury. Hunting being clo- 

 sed as the ice begin* tn melt, the whole produce is col- 

 lected, the skins properly prepared, and when the ri. 

 vers are open, carried down in the boats. Many su- 

 perstitious ceremonies sire practised by the hunters: 

 they never articulate while skinning the sable; nor 

 must any thing hang on the stakes around them. The 

 carcase is laid on dry sticks, which are set on fire, and 

 afterwards carried round it, previous to its being bu- 

 ried in the earth or snow. A portion of the spoils cal- 



* sables is always devoted as an < 

 church, in honour of which each leader also builds his 

 hot. 



'ever arduous end tedious a tak it may be to 

 hunt the sable, the pursuit of the ** otter, con. 

 with that of several other animal*, exceeds ii 

 induration. Parties of huntsmrn, confuting of from only 

 a few to many hundreds together, engage in it, .-. 

 yean sometime* elapse before their return borne. Far 

 from being a pursuit of sport or pleasure, it i* an occu- 

 !.'.. . .: IIP IT -v . :>, htii.ii man i i 

 st*ed, they are scantily clothed, and. exposed to all the 

 ii.i-l. jiit-iicy i.i' a ri;r POM eft ite, thej lead tha most 

 miserable 1 particularly the case with the 



RUJ xria,and the natives of the continent, 



or the islanders under tiieir contrr.iil. The sea otter is 

 of on amphibious nature. It inhabits the shores of the 

 Northern Pacific Ocean, and is found, though not in 

 plenty, as far a Japan, or even die Yellow .Sea. It i 



linglr pacific, and seeks safety only in flight ; but 



.nceasinglv persecuted, and destroyed for the sake 

 of the ben that covers it. The hunt- 



ers having obtained a vessel, to which the Rui.ua go- 

 eminent appoints a steersman, they sail from Okhotsk, 

 or the harbours of Kamtschatka, with a small cargo of 

 what will prove most acceptable to the savage* of the 





1 - l- . _; 



I the chace 

 next is of 



distent islands which they mean to visit. Taking pos- Hunt!**, 

 session of some of these, they either compel the natives '^"Y"" 1 '' 

 to depart alone in quest of game, (and in this way a 

 fleet of canoes, carrying 300 Aleutans, went out some 

 years ago, which was never after heard of,) or they are 

 themselves of the party. Hunting the sea otter is in 

 other respects attended both with tl.inger and difficulty. 

 Two very small canoes, each containing two expert 

 hunters, are prepared with bows and arrows, and a 

 .-mall harpoon, to which last is attached a line a few 

 fathoms in length. Though the animal is hunted also 

 on ice, it is more commonly captured by pursuit in 

 the water, continued during several hours. From the 

 necessity of respiration, it can dive but for a few mi- 

 nutes ; the principal skill to l>c displayed is in the canoes 

 taking the same direction which it does in its course. 

 They separate, therefore, as the sea otter goes down, in 

 order to inflict a mortal wound either with the arrows or 

 harpoon at the moment it rises. If hunts tl on a larger 

 scale, the mode adopted renders the animal so ure a 

 prey, that scarcely one in a hundred can escape. A 

 number of hunters being engaged, when one ob- 

 serves a sea otter he endeavours to pierce it, and at all 

 events rows to the spot where it plunges. Here he 

 stations his canoe, and raises his oar as a signal, on 

 which the rest of the hunters form a surrounding circle. 

 The moment ol" reappearance, he discharges his arrow?, 

 or throws another harpoon, and hutening to the place 



the otter dives, makes a signa' " 

 his oar. A second circle is then . 



acted, until the animal is exhausted, 

 plunge exceeds a quarter of an hour, the 

 shorter duration, and thus the intervals diminish until 

 tile animal can plunge no more. \Vlu-n the female sea 

 otter it overtaken with its young, parental affection is 

 manifested in the moot inti-rr-tin^ m.-iinu r : it super- 

 sedes all tense of danger. Taking the rub in her paw , 

 she dive* to save it ; ' r breath, 



exposed to the hunter's weapons. Should it be taken 

 -lie become* regardless of her own sal'rty, and, 

 approaching the boat, fall* an easy sacrifice. Hir 



[ ' ' ' ''. '!! i their J :;;..: OUIj .Is rUM 



out with their teeth the arrows that have pierced them, 

 and even attacking the canoes. Incessant pursuit of 

 this animal has almost totally extirpated it from place* 

 where it was common formerly. 



It would require a long enumeration to specify all 

 the different modes of bunting, and the various strata- 

 gems employed for the capture of wild animals. 

 are exceedingly ingenious, and others require continual 

 alteration, according as the game become* more wary 

 of the designs of its pursuers. The skill of the tumu- 

 li an ordinary spectator is ready to i 

 value, is the result of long continued experience only : 

 the footstep, the track, the pasture of the animal, and 

 'aliens, are all studied, to discover it* age, its 

 sex, and its haunts ; and it cannot be denied, that much 

 of the naturalist's knowledge is deduced from t 

 formation of huntsmen alor.e. The whole geographi- 

 cal discoveries of the Russians in the north-east of Si- 

 beria originated exclusively with their hunters, to 

 whom a\-o they were indcUcd for the discover)' of the 

 Kurile and Aleut.in Mam!-, the promontory of Alaksa, 

 an') the island Kadiak. Hunting, v.i;< ,\ directed to 

 nit game, is :i Mg, manly, and 



athletic exerci*. . prow-en > other ob- 



l.an to deprive an innorent animal of life, or n 

 i. r tlic pleasure of witnesiuig its *peed, and beholding 

 the vigour of its defence for self- preservation, it is 



