222 DESCRIPTION OF BERING ISLAND 



Those wishing detailed information about this animal may find 

 it in my "Beschreibung von Seethieren. " * 



[Hunting the Sea Otter] 123 



Because in the year 1743 I went to sea myself in a baidar at 

 the nearer Kurile Islands in order to see how these animals are 

 hunted, at which time the above-mentioned "Beschreibung" had 

 already been completed, I believe it is not out of place here 

 incidentally to describe this chase also. — The Kurile Islanders 

 in spring go to sea for a distance of 10 versts or more in leather 

 boats or baidars, in which there are six oarsmen, one steersman, 

 and one hunter. When they see a sea otter they row towards it 

 with all their strength, but the otter also spares no effort to 

 escape. When they are near enough, the steersman and the 

 hunter, who sits in the bow, shoot at the otter with arrows; if 

 they do not hit the animal right away they force it to dive and 

 do not let it rise without immediately again shooting an arrow 

 at it in order to prevent it from getting air. From the rising 



* As is known, this excellent work of the late Steller, to which he also 

 was not able to give the finishing touches, is printed in Latin in Vol. 2 

 of Novi Comment. PetropoL, and the German translation is separately 

 printed: G. W. Steller's ausfiihrliche Beschr. von sonderbaren Meer- 

 thieren, Halle, 1753, 8vo with copper plates. — P. [On these works and 

 Walter and J. E. Miller's English translation see the Bibhography 

 below, p. 255. The section on the sea otter is on pp. 367-398 of "De 

 bestiis marinis" and pp. 161-208 of the German edition. Only pp. 382- 

 398 are included in the English translation, viz. on pp. 210-218.] 



123 This section is not in the MS. As in it are incorporated observations 

 made in 1743 it was probably written later not only than the "De 

 bestiis marinis," as Steller says, but also than the journal and the 

 description of Bering Island. It may have formed part of No. 53, on 

 the method of hunting various animals, of the Steller manuscripts listed 

 by Krasheninnikov (Pekarskii, Istoriya Akademii Nauk, Vol. i, St. 

 Petersburg, 1870, p. 616). In that list the observations made by Steller 

 in 1743 are represented by at least two documents (No. 38, on birds; 

 No. 41, on fishes). The corresponding section on hunting the sea otter 

 in "De bestiis marinis," of which the present is in the nature of an 

 amplification, is on pp. 386-391; German edition, pp. 191-198; English 

 translation, pp. 212-215. 



