THE SEA-OTTER AND ITS EXTERMINATION 223 
in 1889 it had increased to £33, and in 1891 to £57, since 
which date the price has again risen. For specially fine 
skins £88 was considered a record price some years ago, 
but now £100 is by no means uncommon, and £200, and 
even £225, have been paid for unusually splendid specimens. 
As regards the methods of capture, clubbing and spearing 
are probably the least wasteful, few, if any, of the animals 
thus killed being lost. The gun is less satisfactory, as 
many wounded animals escape to die a lingering death. 
But the most wasteful of all is the net. Unless the animals 
be removed from the net within a few hours after death 
their skins are irretrievably ruined by the attacks of the 
myriads of minute crustaceans which swarm in the Arctic 
seas. Netting can be effected only in stormy weather, the 
nets being stretched from the shore to some convenient 
rocks; and frequently it is impossible to visit them for 
days together, when such captures as they may contain 
are valueless. 
But the great diminution in the numbers of the sea-otter, 
although bad enough, is by no means the most serious 
element in the matter. Ever since the Russians took 
possession, hunting the sea-otter has afforded the chief 
means of livelihood to the Aleutian islanders. On_ this 
point Captain Hooper writes as follows: ‘The decrease 
in the yearly catch has already brought some of the settle- 
ments to the verge of want, and if they are allowed to 
become exterminated, actual suffering and even starvation 
can only be averted by Government aid. Properly pro- 
tected and reserved exclusively for the use of the natives, 
the otter, while it can probably never be brought up to 
its former numbers, can be preserved from extermination, 
and will furnish a means of subsistence for these people 
for many years.” 
