274 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



number of the boats is greater, the intervals are reduced. Every man now 

 looks upon the sea with great attention. Nothing escapes the eye of the 

 Aleut ; in the smallest black spot appearing but one moment over the surface 

 of the waters, he at once recognizes a sea-otter. The baidar which first sees 

 the animal rows rapidly towards the spot where the creature dived, and now 

 the Aleut, holding his oar straight up in the air, remains motionless on the 

 spot. Immediately the whole squadron is on the move, and the long, straight 

 line changes into a wide circle, the centre of which is occupied by the baidar 

 with the raised oar. The otter, not being able to remain long under water, re- 

 appears, and the nearest Aleut immediately greets him with an arrow. This 

 first attack is seldom mortal ; very often the missile does not even reach its 

 mark, and the sea-otter instantly disappears. Again the oar rises from the 

 next baidar ; again the circle forms, but this time narrower than at first ; the 

 fatigued otter is obliged to come oftener to the surface, arrows fly from all 

 sides, and finally the animal, killed by a mortal shot, or exhausted by repeat- 

 ed wounds, falls to the share of the archer who has hit it nearest to the head. 

 If several otters appear at the same time, the boats form as many rings, pro- 

 vided their number be sufficiently great. 



The boldest of all hunters, the Aleuts of the Fox Islands, pursue the sea-ot- 

 ter also in winter. If, during the summer chase, the rapidity and regularity 

 with which all the movements are performed, and the sure eye and aim of the 

 archers command the spectator's admiration, this winter chase gives him occa- 

 sion to wonder at their courage. During the severest winter-storms the otter 

 shelters himself on the shore of some small uninhabited island or on a solitary 

 rock, and after having carefully ascertained that no enemy is near, coils himself 

 up and falls asleep. While the storm still rages, two Aleuts approach the rock 

 in two single baidars from the leeward. The hunter in the foremost baidar 

 stands upright, a gun or a club in his hand, and waits in this position till a 

 wave brings him near to the summit of the rock. He now springs on land, 

 and while his companion takes care of the baidar, approaches the sleeping otter 

 and shoots it or kills it with his club. With the assistance of his companion 

 who has remained on the water, he springs back into his baidar as soon as the 

 crest of a wave brings it within his reach. 



The sea-bear is nearly as valuable as the sea-otter to the fur company, as the 

 woolly skin of the young animal is the only one of the whole seal tribe which 

 is reckoned among the finer peltry. The sea-bears are chiefly killed on the 

 Commodore and Pribilow islands, particularly on St. Paul, where they are 

 hunted by a certain number of Aleuts located there under Russian superin- 

 tendence. The chase begins in the latter part of September, on a cold, foggy 

 day, when the wind blows from the side where the animals are assembled on 

 the rocky shore. The boldest huntsmen open the way, then follow the older 

 people and the children, and the chief personage of the band comes last, to be 

 the better able to direct and survey the movements of his men, who are all 

 armed with clubs. The main object is to cut oif the herd as quickly as possi- 

 ble from the sea. All the grown-up males and females are spared and allowed 

 to escape, but most of the young animals are sentenced to death. Those 



