Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-07-02


ment to enforce exist
~ ing laws for its protec-
ton. As result this
government is likely to
have to undertake the
support Of several hundred natives on western
islands of the Aleutian chain who have hitherto
depended on the chase Of the sea otter for their
living. The final destruction Of this interest
ing beast signifies the reduction Of population
in that region to absolute savagery and even to
starvation. Already the formerly prosperous
inhabitants of certain villages have been
brought to such extremities as to be obliged to
subsist on seaweed, being only saved from
perishing by stores Of provisions contributed
by the steamer Bear and other ships.
MOST BEAUTIFUL OF ALL FURs.
The fur Of the sea otter is the most beautiful
and most costly of all peltries. 1t has as fixed
q value in the market today as any Of the
precious metals, prime skin being worth $780,
while an exceptionally good one will some
times fetch as much as $3.50. From the earliest
times it has commanded high price rs to-
day. The Japanese priced it above all other
materials for garments long ago as !, 900
wears before the discovery Of America by
Columbus, and mighty tycoons clothed them
selves with its shimmering velvet Geographic
originally due in great measure to the incentive
offered by the demand for the coat of this per-
secuted creature. When the Russians first
opened up the Aleutian Islands and the Hudsoa
bay traders secured the coasts Of Puget sound
and Oregon they found the natives commonly
wearing seq otter cloaks, with which they
parted for q trife, not valuing them equally
with the hair seal or the sea lion, the flesh and
skins of the latter being more palatable and
serviceable.
The offers Of the traders made hunting for
sen offers brisk, and more than 10, 900 persons
were annually engaged in pursuit of the animal
from 1741 until 1845, when their numbers were
80 far reduced as to render the industry on
such scale no longer remunerative. Some
notion may be got Of their original plentifulness
from the fact that in the year 1904 single
vessel carried to Russia Ii. 900 SKINS worth
then. as now, at least 81. SOC. 900. The work of
determination was carried on Mt q frightful
rate. During the first year after the discovery
of the PribylOv Islands, which are the breeding
ground OF the fur seals, two sailors killed there
5000 sea offers. The next year they secured
1000. Six years later not q single sea otter
reappeared, and none has been there since.
With similar rapidity they were wiped out all
along the Aleutian chain and down the north
west coast as far south as the southern boundary
Of Oregon.
GOVERNMENT SHOULD PROTECT THEM.
1t was recently suggested by Secretary Lang
ley Of the Smithsonian Institution that the
United States government should set apart GER
tain reservations for the permanent protection
OF various marine animals now threatened with
extinction, where no hunters at anv season
should be permitted to pursue and kill them.
Already an attempt in that direction has been
made with regard to the fur seals for which Sc
curity Will probably be obtained eventually on
the Pribylov Islands in Bering sea by inter-
national agreement. The same thing ought to
be done for the sea lion and the walrus, which
otherwise will soon have vanished from the
face Of the earth. For lack Of such easily
taken precaution the sea elephants, strange and
huge, were exterminated off-hand q few years
ago to satisfy the rapacious greed Of persons
who thought nothing Of destroying a whole
species for few hundreds of dollars. butcher
ing the helpless creatures as they lay on the
shore. In like manner the arctic sea COW has
been caused to disappear.
In the case of the sea offers there sholld be a
reservation established on and about the west
ern Aleutian Islands of Saanach and Cherno-
lours, where these animals resort in preference
to any other part of the coast. They find there
at all seasons great supply Of the crustaceans
and mollusks on which they feed, and the small
areas OF sheltered water and outlying roofs af-
ford them o suitable playground. Further
more, the shoals in that neighborhood furnish
an anchorage for immense areas of kelp, on half
submerged masses of which the creatures breed
This kelp is q gigantic species of sea weed, with
stems over 800 feet long, resembling clothes
lines, which are kept aaoat by large air vessels
crowned with punches OF leaves from thirty to
fifty feet in length. This submarine forestry,
when disengased from its anchorage. floats in
raft-llke aggregatiOns all over Boring sea and
the north Pacific. and on those floating islands
the sen offers bring forth their young.
HOW THE YOUNG ARE CARED FOR.
Sea offers spend most Of their lives at sea,
The mother brings forth single young one,
for the safety of which she exercises the utmost
solicitude. It sucks for year. and during in
fancy it is carried most of the time on the body
Of its mamma, who floats on her back while
her offspring uses her rs a sort Of raft to play
about on. When frightened she takes the pup
in her mouth and dives. II surprised BY the
hunter on land she never thinks of deserving
the pup, but clasps 1t tightly in her arms and
turns her back to receive the spear or bullet
In feeding the animal usually fetches a number
OF shellfsh to the surface and eats them while
its breast and breaking and devouring them
one by one. Crabs, fishes and the tender
fronds Of seaweeds form a portion Of its diet,
while OF sea urchins it is particularly fond, and
it is said to break them open by taking one in
each paw and smashing them together.
The Aleuts declare that the sea otter il the
most intelligent and clever Of all marine ami
mails just as the bear is he wisest Of all beasts
on land. Certainly no living creature surpasses
1t in keenness Of sight and hearing. The hun
tiers know better than to light fire within five
miles to the windward of its haunts, and many
IN ebbing and flowing tide il required to so
wash away the scent Of human footprints on the
beach as to satisfy the animal Of the safety of
landing there. The natives, who seek the
Islands Of Saansch and Chernolours in pursuit
of it during the winter. often spend many weeks
there without making fro, lest the smell of il
brighten the quarry. For the same reason thew
refrain from smoking or chewing tobacco, and
the refuse Of their food, instead Of being scat
tered on or near the beaches, must be carried
inland and buried. It il asserted that when the
sea otter is hunted down in its desperation it
will sometimes dive and Jam itself into a creyice
in the rocks beneath the water, never rising
again.
CANNOT BE BEARD BIZ HAND
The mother sea otter sleeps ON the surface of
the water with her pup clasped in her fore
paws. The latter can never be reared by hand.
Attempts to bring up young ones are often
made by the Aleuts, who very commonly cap
ture them alive, but they invariably refuse to
eat and die OF starvation. The newborn ami
NAL has coet Of coarse brown and grizxled fur,
which becomes gradually darker, thicker and
finer as It grows older, SO that at two years of
age It Ii In prime condition. At ave years the
creature IL full grown, and il then little bigger
than an adult beaver, measuring about four feet
from the muzxle to the tip of the tail II has
white nose and white mustache and whiskers.