HOW I HUNTED THE SEA-OTTER 43 
and breech-loaders adopted, Winchester rifles were 
the favourites, but Sharps, Remingtons, Marlins, 
Spencers, and others, were also used. All these, 
however, were made especially heavy, fitted with 
hair-triggers, horn-shaped rearsights, and a bright 
metal foresight. The advantage of a hair-trigger is 
great. When I first commenced hunting I did not 
use it, but having once done so, I had no desire to 
return to the other. A bright or white foresight is a 
necessity for shooting at objects on the water, as it 
is difficult to see a black sight. Some of the hunters 
used an ivory foresight, but I preferred a silver one, 
and cut up a silver dollar for the purpose, keeping 
it brightly polished. 
The boats pull along parallel with the coast as a 
rule, the hunter and boat-steerer keeping a sharp 
look-out for otters. An experienced man will dis¬ 
tinguish an otter a long way off, never mistaking a 
seal, a sea-lion, or a bird, for one, which a “ green¬ 
horn 55 invariably does. When an otter is “ raised, 55 
as it is styled in hunting parlance, the boat-steerer 
lifts his paddle high above his head as a signal to 
the other boats that one has been sighted, the signal 
being acknowledged in the same way. The otter 
will probably be lying asleep on its back, but, like 
the proverbial weasel, with one eye open. The boat 
“ raising 55 the animal makes directly towards it, the 
other two boats pulling into positions about 700 or 
800 yards astern, and on the quarters of the boat 
going for the otter. The otter will probably “ stand, 55 
as it is termed—that is, drop his hind-quarters and 
raise his head—when the boat has got, perhaps, with¬ 
in a few hundred yards of him, take a view of the 
situation, and then dive. The hunter will have 
