CHAPTER IV 
FIRST EXPERIENCES 
Some thirty-seven years ago a few sea-otters were 
still to be found off the California coast, in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of the Santa Barbara Islands. They were 
hunted by men who lived in Santa Barbara and 
neighbourhood, most of whom were Mexicans or 
half-breeds. Boats were employed, manned usually 
by four men, including the hunter, whose position 
was in the bow of the boat. All used paddles. After 
the hunter, the boat-steerer was the most important 
man, the others being styled boat-pullers. Each 
hunter carried two long and heavy Kentucky muzzle¬ 
loading rifles. All were expert boatmen and ex¬ 
cellent shots, being able to shoot as well from a boat 
in motion as the ordinary man on terra firma. 
In 1872 an old otter-hunter, Captain Kimberley 
of Santa Barbara, who owned a small schooner 
called the Cygnet , was the first to rediscover, if I 
may so term it, the sea-otter in considerable numbers 
on the southern Kurils. It came about in this way. 
Otter - hunting on the California coast being no 
longer a paying pursuit, Kimberley decided to try 
a sort of mixed venture across the Pacific, with 
several projects in view. The chief of these was to 
attempt to find a number of whaling-vessels which, 
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