130 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
months after this, of worms in the heart, a common 
disease with foreign dogs in Japan. 
Perhaps the reader has had quite sufficient of 
these little personal matters. The new schooner, 
christened the Ottosei (Fur-seal), followed in the 
footsteps, if I may so term them, of her predecessor, 
the Snowdrop . Delay after delay occurred in getting 
her finished and launched, and it was not before 
June 25 that we set sail for the hunting-grounds, 
having lost nearly three months of the season. We 
arrived off Yetorup on July 2, and the same day 
lowered boats and got two otters. I had only one 
good hunter with me, the third boat being headed 
by an old Portuguese boatswain known in Yoko¬ 
hama as “ Old Portuguese Joe,” who had never 
before in his life handled a rifle. 
On July 9 we fell in with the Flying Mist , with 
a catch of fifty-three otters. She reported the loss 
of three of her men, drowned. Their boats were 
returning after the day’s hunt to the vessel, which 
was anchored in Roko Bay. The weather was calm 
and foggy, and they had some difficulty in locating 
the schooner, which every now and then fired a gun. 
Two of the boats outpulled the third, and got on 
board. The oarsmen in the third got into an argu¬ 
ment as to the direction from which the sound of the 
signal-gun came. One word led to another, and 
they commenced to fight, capsizing the boat. They 
were about 500 yards from the shore, and three of 
the men who could swim struck out for the beach ; 
the other man, who could not swim a stroke, hung 
on to the keel of the boat. This boat not arriving, 
the captain of the schooner despatched the two 
others to look for her, and they came across the 
