The Kadiak Bear and his Home 



made $3,000 in one day. The amount paid a 

 native is $200 or more for each sea otter pelt. 

 They are much larger than a land otter, a good 

 skin measuring six feet in length and three feet in 

 width when split and stretched. 



When fishing is allowed from schooners, the 

 natives leave Kadiak for the grounds early in May. 

 Each schooner carries thirty or forty baidarkas 

 and twice as many men. Otters are often 

 found at some distance from shore, and can be 

 seen only when the water is quiet. The natives 

 prefer the bow and arrow to the .40-65 Winches- 

 ters the company have given them, even claiming 

 that otter are scarce because they have been driven 

 from their old grounds by the noise of firearms. 

 The bows, four feet long, are very stout, and 

 strongly reinforced with cords of sinew along the 

 back. The arrows, a little under a yard in length, 

 are tipped with a well-polished piece of whalebone. 

 A sharp and barbed piece of whale's tooth fits into 

 a hole bored in the end of the bone, and a cord 

 of considerable length is tied to the detachable 

 arrow head, the other end of the cord being wound 

 around and fastened to the middle of the shaft. 



The advantages of this arrow are obvious. 

 When the game is struck, its struggles disengage 

 the arrow head, and the shaft being dragged by the 



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