The Irish standard., 1892-05-21
H JJNTING SEA OFFERS.
Patience and Skill Are Necessary
to Success in Their Pursuit

Animals Which Produce the Most valu-
able Fur Known to Commerce-Blaz-
ting Away All Day from Tall Tow
ers Along the Coast.
It is fact not generally known, even
among the residents of the state Of
Washington, that off the coast along
the edge of the Pacific ocean, and al
most in the shadows Of the majestic
Olympic range of mountains is found,
in numbers now rivaling the product of
the Aleutian islands, the much-prized
sea otter, an animal which furnishes
the most expensive fur known to the
commercial world. The sea otter fur
requires no dyeing to fit it for use like
the seal fur, and in its natural state is
worth ten or twenty times the figure
that the sealskin sells for. It is not
usually made into cloaks or sacques, be-
cause too heavy as well as too expen-
sive, to suit the tastes of many, and 1t
is so rare that the fur is not often seen
except as trimmings for garments made
of sealskin.
The main source of supply for sea
otter skins, says the San Francisco
Chronicle, has always been away up in
the Aleutian islands, nearly to the coast
of Siberia. A few years ago as many
as seven thousand were taken
in a single season, but the catch
of the season just closed in that
region has only amounted to a mere
handful, SO ruthless and systematic has
been the destruction. When that field
is exhausted the only one of any extent
remaining will be this little bay on the
coast Of Washington, where for many
years the industry of taking skins has
furnished employment to a number of
weather. beaten hunters. 1t is not lit
tie remarkable that on all the western
coast line of the United States the only
places that the sea otter has survived
the deadly persecution of the hunter are
along the stretch Of the Pacific beach
between the mouth Of Gray's harbor
and Point Granville, q distance OF about
tlirty-fve miles, ON the islands off the
Santa Barbara coast. Point Granville,
with its bold, picturesque rocks jutting
out into the sea, is about midway be-
tween Cape Flattery, at the mouth OF the
straits Of San Juan de Fuca, which form
the northwest boundary of the United
States, and the mouth of the Columbia
river. which marks the line between the
states of Washington and Oregon. The
Pribylov islands, where most Of the
seals and the sea offers come from, are
away up to the northwest nearly three
Thousand miles
It is very interesting TO see the man
ner in which the highly priced sea OF
tiers are secured here on the coast of
Washington. If it were an easy task to
get a sea otter there would no longer
be any of them left in these waters, for
they have been hunted here for twen-
ty years by white men and a hundred
or more by the Indians. The Indians
hunt the sea otter from long, heavy ca"
noes, in which they go out through the
surf, and, cruising along a mile or two.
shoot or spear the animal us he Lies
sleeping in the water with only his
head in sight. Owing to his extreme
wariness, it is hard to approach and diff
ficult to hit the animal after it is found.
1t is only after long practice that an
Indian accustomed as he is to the use
of a canoe, is able to meet with any sue
cess at all, for it takes great skill to
shoot or spear Il floating object in a
choppy sea from an uncertain canoe.
Very often hunter remains out tive or
six days without result.
1t is not, however, the Indians who
secure the most sea offers. for there are
not many natives left, and the pursuit
is hazardous one, 1t is the white
hunter, OF 'Boston man." as the In
Cians call him. who has devised q way
of getting the coveted fur without risk
ing his life in q canoe at sea. Along
this stretch Of beach from Gray's har~
Dor to Point Granville are seven OF
eight tilrse~legged towers that look
from distance like huge skeleton pile
drivers, with rude box at the top OF
each. These towers are called sea-otter
de1ricl1s. and they are erected as far out
toward the breakers as practicable
without danger Of being washed away
The beach is smooth and SO nearly level
that at a distance of one thousand feet
feet from shore the water is only two
OF three feet deep. From the tops OF
these derricks the hunter picks Oft the
wary sea otter, and it is not unusual
thing for one to shoot and kill his game
at "a distance of one thousand yards.
But though these hunters are excellent
riAemen and their weapons are the very
best, they may shoot hundred times
without killing single sea otter, SO
that in addition to being good shot
they must possess unusual patience. II
spite Of the apparent lack Of iveliness
in the pursuit, the sport is a most at
tractive one, and the hunter who once
gets into it seldom abandons it.
Poisonous Plants.
There are certain plants which pro-
duce flowers which make not only