160 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
condition, out of a crew of twelve. This boat, 
which was an ordinary open fishing sampan, had 
been blown off the coast of Sendai during a gale in 
October, and the poor fellows had been for nine 
months attempting to get back to the westward, 
living on the fish they caught, and depending on 
rain for their water-supply. All but two had suc¬ 
cumbed to the hardships to which they had been 
exposed, and when they reached land these two 
were almost at death’s door. 
The remainder of the season passed without 
incident. Our total catch was eighty large otters 
and twelve cubs, six fur-seals, and twelve foxes, to 
secure which we spent 529 hours in the boats, and 
pulled 1,587 miles in the seventy times we lowered 
for hunting. After our arrival in Yokohama, hearing 
of an opportunity of getting some seals on an islet 
in the Sea of Okotsk, I sent the schooner away on 
November 4; and after a trip of nineteen days she 
arrived, to find nothing but a number of dead seals, 
which apparently had been hurriedly killed and left 
lying on the rookery. The carcasses of the seals 
were frozen, and 568 skins, which the cold had pre¬ 
vented from spoiling, were taken from them. 
The season of 1881 commenced somewhat in- 
auspiciously, inasmuch as I lost my second hunter 
just before I was ready to sail. He was burned to 
death in a fire at the boarding-house where he was 
staying. Then I lost about 3 tons of salt owing to 
a lighter leaking whilst the schooner was “ hove 
down ” to have her bottom cleaned; after that a 
boat was stolen, but recovered later. 
We sailed on April 5. On the 16th, when off 
Cape Yerimo, Yezo, the temperature of the sea- 
