American Big Game in its Haunts 



studying the weather conditions. They are still 

 absolutely relied upon to decide when sea otter 

 parties may start on a trip, and are looked up to 

 and trusted as chiefs by the people of the villages 

 in which they live. 



At Wood Island we heard of Messrs. Kidder 

 and Blake, two other sportsmen from Boston, who 

 had already left for their hunting grounds in 

 Kaluda Bay. 



The spring was backward, and the bears still in 

 their dens, but Merriam and I decided to take the 

 North American Company's schooner Maksoutoff 

 on its spring voyage around the island, when it- 

 carries supplies and collects furs from the natives. 

 We were to sail as far as Kaguiac, a small village 

 on the south shore, and were here promised a 30- 

 foot sloop by the company. We added to our 

 equipment two native baidarkas for hunting and a 

 bear dog belonging to an old Russian hunter, 

 Walter Matroken. Tchort (Russian for Devil) 

 looked like a cross between a water spaniel and a 

 Newfoundland, and though old and poorly sup- 

 plied with teeth, many of which he had lost during 

 his acquaintance with bears, he proved a good 

 companion, game in emergencies, and a splendid 

 retriever. 



Our rifle and camera batteries were as follows: 

 240 



