FATAL MISCONCEPTION OF THE OTTER’s CHARACTER. 175 
Mysteries of Paris/’ The otter symbolizes the ferocious lover 
of La Louve, a generous nature, but savage and hostile to the re- 
pugnant toil of cities ; the primitive man, who can never resolve 
to make to civilized society the sacrifice of his natural rights of 
hunting and fishing, and whom civilized society condemns to become 
a poacher, a ravager of forests and of rivers, instead of giving free 
development to his invincible attractions, by trusting him with an 
employment as game-keeper or whipper-in. A brilliant future 
awaits the otter in the period of harmony, nearer to us than is 
supposed. 
The real otter chase is an ambush. Dogs however, sometimes 
hunt it. It is also taken without much trouble, in snares, on ac- 
count of that fatal habit wdiich it has of leaving its visiting card 
on every white stone of the district it inhabits. It gives birth to 
five or six young in the spring. These little ones repair to the 
water like young ducks, as soon as they have strength to walk. 
It earths itself under shaded banks, under rocks, or the roots of 
old trees. The otter plunges into snow as into water, when dogs 
pursue it, and when the river, its natural refuge, is frozen by some 
hard winter ; its rapid succession of sudden appearances and dis- 
appearances, is certainly the most curious of all the manoeuvres 
of the chase that I have been ever allowed to witness. 
Travelers who have fished in China, relate having seen good 
otters, well trained, sold frequently at the price of four hundred 
dollars. Why have our fishermen and poachers never conceived 
the idea of establishing a primary school for the education of ot- 
ters, as one has been started in the Pyrenees for the bears ? 
The statistics of the French fur trade show that an average of 
four thousand otters are annually destroyed in France. This de- 
struction is cfiiefiy effected by snares, and the dog plays the part 
of an auxiliary. The otter was made to chase fish and go shares 
with man, and not to be hunted. When will blind man cease to 
treat his natural allies as enemies ? 
