SEA OTTER. 
173 
Hunting the Sea Otter was formerly a favourite pursuit with the few 
sailors or stray Americans that lived on the shores of the Bay of San 
Francisco, but the more attractive search for gold drew them off to the 
mines when Sutter’s mill-race had revealed the glittering riches inter- 
mixed with its black sands. One of the shallops formerly used for catching 
the Sea Otter was observed by J. W. Audubon at Stockton, and is thus 
described by him : The boat was about twenty-eight feet long and eight 
feet broad, clinker built, and sharp at both ends like a whale-boat, which 
she may in fact have originally been, rigged with two lug sails, and looked 
like a fast craft. Whilst examining her the captain and owner came up 
to enquire whether he did not want to send some freight to Hawkins’ Bar, 
but on finding that was not the object of his scrutiny, gave him the follow- 
ing account of the manner of hunting the Otter. 
The boat was manned with four or five hands and a gunner, and sailed 
about all the bays, and to the islands even thirty or forty miles from the 
coast, and sometimes north or south three or four hundred miles in quest 
o.f these animals. On seeing an Otter the boat was steered quietly for it, 
sail being taken in to lessen her speed so as to approach gently and 
without alarming the game. When within short gun-shot, the marksman 
fires, the men spring to the oars, and the poor Otter is harpooned 
before it sinks by the bowsman. Occasionally the animals are sailed 
up to while they are basking on the banks, and they are sometimes 
caught in seines. The man who gave this information stated that he had 
known five Otters to be shot and captured in a day, and he had obtained 
forty dollars apiece for their skins. At the time J. W. Audubon was in 
California he was asked a hundred dollars for a Sea Otter skin, which 
high price he attributed to the gold discoveries. 
Only one of these Otters was seen by J. W. Audubon whilst in Califor- 
nia : it was in the San Joaquin river, where the bulrushes grew thickly on 
the banks all about. The party were almost startled at the sudden 
appearance of one, which climbed on to a drift log about a hundred yards 
above them. Three rifle balls were sent in an instant towards the unsus- 
pecting creature, one of which striking near it, the alarmed animal slided 
into the water and sunk without leaving, so far as they could see, a single 
ripple. It remained below the surface for about a minute, and on coming 
up raised its head high above the water, and having seen nothing to frighten 
it, as they judged, began fishing. Its dives were made so gently that it 
was evidently as much at its ease in the water as a Grebe, and it frequently 
remained under the surface as long at least as the great northern diver or 
loon. They watched its movements some time, but could not ,see that it 
took a fish, although it dived eight or ten times. On firing another shot, 
