PREFACE 
This book is the result of the importunities of many 
friends, who for years past have urged me to write 
an account of my adventures in the little-known 
waters of the North-Western Pacific when hunting 
the sea-otter and the fur-seal. 
I have hesitated so long before acceding to their 
request because I doubted my ability to write in a 
way that would interest the general reader of to-day, 
who, it appears to me, needs his reading matter 
dished up with highly spiced trimmings. Being of a 
somewhat unimaginative temperament, such writing 
is beyond me, and I have only attempted to set 
down in plain words what I have to say. Thus my 
little craft is launched to sink or swim as the fates 
decide. 
The early chapters of the book deal with the sea- 
otter, its haunts, habits, and the methods of hunting 
it, with some account of the islands where it is found 
and the people inhabiting them. The information 
here embodied is the result mainly of my own ob¬ 
servations, but is also derived in part from various 
other sources too numerous to mention in detail, my 
indebtedness to which I hereby gratefully acknow¬ 
ledge. The later chapters deal with personal adven¬ 
tures, experiences, and reminiscences, culled from my 
diaries, and cover a period of many years, during the 
