292 
IN FORBIDDEN SEAS 
of sea-otters taken by the Ainu in former days was, 
I am inclined to think, comparatively insignificant. 
The inducements for hunting any beyond those 
required for tribute to the chiefs, and for food, 
were not sufficiently remunerative. There was no 
lack of the animals, and large numbers could have 
been easily secured at the end of every winter, 
when the ice set in on the coasts. The number 
of skins that found their way to Nagasaki could 
not have been large, or it would have figured 
as an important item in the commerce of that 
city. 
It was not until after foreigners had begun to 
hunt the sea-otter in the vicinity of Yetorup that 
the Japanese authorities awoke to the importance 
and value of the industry. This is shown by Mr. 
Hall’s report, there being no returns of sea-otter 
skins taken by the Ainu for the Kaitakushi until 
“ 1873 ” (? 1875). As explained in Chapter IV., the 
first foreign vessel to hunt in the waters adjacent to 
Yetorup was the American schooner Cygnet, of 
Santa Barbara, Captain Kimberlay, during the 
summer of 1872. She was the only vessel out that 
season, and in a very short time secured some 300 
pelts, the otters being very plentiful and tame. 
Her success soon became known, inducing others to 
go into the business. When, in the following season 
(1873), I fitted out a schooner from Yokohama, and 
arrived on the hunting-grounds, I found six other 
craft engaged in the business. These had all come 
over from California. Their total catch for the 
season was about 1,200 skins, large and small. 
During that season the native Ainu did not hunt 
the otter except in a casual way, and more particu- 
