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settle along the western coast, which by its natural 

 conditions is the most favourable one. The increase in 

 the number of sea-otters, made it difficult to protect them, 

 there are not sufficient people to guard rookerys for 2% 

 months during seal-hunting season, a very important 

 item to the natives. This same scarcety of people forces 

 them to tr} T and prevent sea-otters forming a rooker}' 

 on the S. E. terminus of Copper Isl., as there are favou- 

 rable conditions for doing so in consequence of the po- 

 pulation being settled at a remote distance, this becomes 

 even more complicated by the fact, that in the neighbour- 

 hood there are no places, where it would be possible 

 to place a guard. One must hope, that such a valuable 

 animal will incite the Government to take upon itself the 

 expenses for a floating guard (a steamcutter with a deck). 



The sea-otter keeps near the shore and it is not 

 difficult to protect it, if there is only the wish and means 

 to do the same. At a distance from the coast the sea- 

 otter can only be found on large banks overgrown with 

 sea-weeds, where there is no sea-weeds sea-otters do not 

 dwell; but the existence of these sea- weeds, which grows 

 only in a certain depth gives the above mentioned cha- 

 racter to the shore and to the sea-bottom. 



Besides the capture with nets on Copper Isl. in stated 

 places on the shore, regularly once in ten years in winter 

 time a sea-otter capture is effected for the purpose of 

 excluding those old males out of the herds, who have 

 finished their sexual activity and are hindering the young- 

 males. According to statitstics the sex of sea-otters on 

 Copper Isl. is not very favourable — the quantity of fema- 

 les is only somewhat larger, than that of males. But this 

 state of sex is still more unfavourable in other places, 

 where the number of males predominates. The increase 

 of the herds is considerably a slow one, as the female 

 only becomes fruitful at the end of her second year and 

 has only one young one at a time, which she feeds a 

 long time. The time of sexual maturity and sexual desire 



