THE SEA-OTTEE FISHERY. 487 



all the rest of the Oregon and Washington coast line. There is nothing in the external appearance 

 of this reach of coast, so favored by these animals, to cause its selection, except perhaps that it 

 may be a little less rocky. It is shoaler and more sandy, but that signifies nothing. 



EFFECTS OF OVERHUNTING. As matters are now conducted in Alaska by the hunting pai 

 ties, the sea-otters do not have a day's rest during the whole year. Parties relieve each other in 

 succession and a continual warfare is maintained. This persistency is stimulated by the traders 

 and is rendered still more deadly to the sea-otter by the use of rifles which, in the hands of the 

 young and ambitious natives, in spite of the warnings of the old men, must result in the extermi- 

 nation of these animals, unless some authority is exerted to~prohibit the use of fire-arms on the 

 grounds. These same old men, who object to the use of powder and ball, are compelled, in order 

 successfully to compete with their rivals, to drop their time-honored bone-spears and arrows and 

 themselves take up fire arms in self-defence. So the bad work goes on too rapidly, though the 

 majority of the natives, and all the reputable traders, deprecate it. 



CALIFORNIA SEA-OTTEE. Professor Jordan has derived the following information about 

 the capture of sea-otter at Santa Barbara, Cal. : 



Messrs. Rogers Bros, have a schooner (the Surprise) which carries Chinamen to the various 

 islands to catch abalones, which also supplies parties of hunters on the same inlands who are 

 shooting seal, and is otherwise engaged in obtaining the skins of the sea-otter. 



Tliis animal lives in the kelp of Anacapa, San Miguel, and other islands, and is shot with some 

 difficulty. Its fur is very valuable, the skins being worth from $2.50 to $110 each, according to 

 size and quality. Mr. Rogers estimates that in 1880 75 skins were obtained, averaging $50 

 each or $3,750. 



The animals go in schools of forty to fifty (?), and are shot from small boats. Only the skins 

 are utilized. The fur is always prime on the sea-otter. No distinction of season is apparent in the 

 abundance of the animals or the quality of the fur. 



2. THE HABITS OP THE SEA OTTER. 



SIZE OF SEA OTTERS. An adult kalan is an animal not much larger than a mature and well 

 conditioned beaver (G. canadenttix). It will measure from the tip of its tail, which is short, to the 

 extremity of the muzzle, 3i to 4i feet, the tail not being over 6 to 8 inches long, and it has a pro- 

 portionate girth of a little over 2 feet; the skin lies upon it, however, in a very different manner 

 from that peculiar to the giant rodent above cited, with which I have just compared it as to size, 

 for the folds of the otter's hide, when seized by the hand, seem to stretch and rise from the body 

 just as tlie skin does on the scruff of a puppy's neck. In other words, the skin of the animal seems 

 to be big enough for a creature twice its anatomical bulk. There is no sexual dissimilarity in 

 color or size amongst the adults, and both manifest the same intense shyness and aversion to 

 man, coupled with the greatest solicitude for their young, which they bring into existence at all 

 seasons of the year. The natives get young pups every mouth in the calendar. As the natives 

 have never caught the mothers bringing forth their offspring on the rocks, they are disposed to 

 believe that the birth takes place on kelp beds, in pleasant or not over-rough weather. The mother 

 otter bears a single pup, which is only about 15 inches long when born, and provided from that 

 time until it is a month or two old with a coat of coarse, brownish, grizzled fur; head and nape 

 brindled grayish, rufous and white, with the roots of the hair growing darker to black towards 

 the skin. The feet, as in the adult, are very short, webbed, and brownish, with nails like a dog, 

 the fore paws being exceedingly feeble and small, all covered with a short, fine bister-brown hair 

 or fur. From this poor condition of the pelt at birth they improve as they grow older, though 



