114 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
without getting drowned. He died in Yokohama 
as poor as the proverbial church mouse. But to 
the story: 
“ It is not necessary,” Werner was reported to 
have said, “ to explain that twenty years ago I was 
a younger man than I am now, but I may preface 
the relation of the following dreadful incident by 
saying that in those days I was fond of adventure, 
and ready to join almost any enterprise—any, indeed, 
that promised novelty, excitement, and profitable 
employment—and the consequence was that one fine 
day I found myself one of a party of otter-hunters 
bound for the north. I need not say anything about 
the voyage, but will proceed to relate our terrible 
experience on the island of Yetorup, where we had 
proposed to put in a hunting season in winter. The 
affair happened in the early days of sea-otter hunting, 
before Winchester rifles and large hunting-boats had 
made their advent in those regions, and when, though 
otters were still numerous, a good muzzle-loader and 
a steady hand were required to insure success. We 
were originally two different parties ; we had landed 
about the same time, but in different places; and after 
the Japanese and Ainu had driven us away from 
our first hunting-quarters, we had consolidated our 
forces, and had selected a spot inside of Otter Island, 
inaccessible from the shore, where we had erected 
a tolerably good shelter with the scanty materials at 
hand, and which we now occupied in common. The 
winter was very severe; the ground was already 
covered with snow when we landed, and we soon had 
our house partly embedded in it. The nights and 
mornings were especially cold, and we had to keep 
a fire constantly burning to prevent ourselves from 
