220 DESCRIPTION OF BERING ISLAND 



blackness, and gloss of the hair [that of] all river beavers that 

 the latter cannot be compared with it. The best pelts bring in 

 Kamchatka 20 rubles, in Yakutsk 30, in Irkutsk 40 to 50,^" 

 and at the Chinese frontier, in exchange for their wares, 80 to 

 100 rubles. The meat is fairly good to eat and palatable i^^^ ^-^g 

 females, however, are much tenderer, and, against the course of 

 nature, are most fat and delicious shortly before, during, and 

 after parturition. The suckling otters which, because of their 

 poor skin, are called medvyedki, or young bears, can, because of 

 their daintiness, both roasted and boiled, at any time compete 

 with suckling lambs. The male has a bony penis like [sea-]dogs 

 [ = seals] and all other warm-blooded "^ marine animals. The 

 female has two mammae beside the genitals. They copulate in 

 the human manner. Altogether, in life it is a beautiful and 

 pleasing animal, cunning and amusing in its habits, and at the 

 same time ingratiating and amorous. Seen when they are run- 

 ning, the gloss of their hair surpasses the blackest velvet. They 

 prefer to lie together in families, the male with its mate, the 

 half-grown young, or koshloki, and the very young sucklings, 

 medvyedki. The male caresses the female by stroking her, using 

 the fore feet as hands,"* and places himself over her; she, however, 

 often pushes him away from her for fun and in simulated coyness, 

 as it were, and plays with her offspring like the fondest mother."* 

 Their love for their young is so intense that for them they expose 

 themselves to the most manifest danger of death. When [their 

 young are] taken away from them, they cry bitterly like a small 

 child and grieve so much that, as we observed from rather 



m The MS has only 40. 



112 On this point, see, above, footnote 343. 



113 "warm-blooded" is not in the MS. 



114 Instead of "wie Hande," as hands, the MS has "wie Hunde," like 

 dogs. 



115 In the MS this sentence ends with "for fun," and the clause about 

 playing with the offspring is part of the next sentence, which there begins 

 as follows: "As to playing with their offspring even the fondest mother 

 cannot approach them, and they love their young to such a degree 

 that," etc. 



