The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-12-17
The Sea Otter.
From san Francisco chronicl

tlenrJ W ElllOtt, ui tue JOlHI FISH anu
Census Commissioners, has made study
of the "kalan, as the sea otter is called by
the Aleuts. 1t is curious fact that to
the sea otter geographers owe their early
knowledge of Russian America, for had it
not been for the greed and covetousness
excited in the minds of fur-dealers by the
beauty and costliness of its peltries, which
the Tartars first secured toward the close
of the seventeenth century, the pushing,
indomitable search by the Russians would
never have been undertaken
1t was the fur hunters, in fact. who
backed Behring and fitted out his small,
miserable vessels Then came the reports
of Captain Cook and then the researches
of the Hudson Bay Company, aud then
the general introduction of the fur to the
courts and the nobility Of the civilized
world. 1t is as favorably known to-day
and valued just as highly in the markets,
being in this respect as fixed in It's in
trinsic value as the demand for any of the
precious metals A prime sca-otter skin
is worth $780, an average skin 500,
while exceptionally fine skins have been
sold as high as $500.
When the Russians first opened up the
Aleutian Islands they found the natives
commonly wearing sea otter cloaks, with
which they parted in the beginning for 4
trife. but the offers of the traders soon set
the Aeuts after them in hot haste and the
kalan became the objective of every hunt
ing expedition on the northwest coast as
far down as San Francisco During the
first few years the numbers of sea offers
taken Were very great, and compared with
those now captured seem perfectly fabu-
lous 1t is on record that the Russian
sailors killed at st. Paul's Island during
the first years occupation 5000, but the
next year they secured less than 900.
aud six years after not a single sea otter
re-appeared and none have been there
since Now the sea otter is rarely found,
and in places where 900 had been easily
obtained but twenty-five or thirty can be
secured
When the Alegtian territory came into
our possession the Russians were taking
between 500 to 700 and the Hudson Bay
Company about POO more, an annual aver
age yield of less than 900 skins 0w-
ing, however, to the organization of hunt
ing parties and the Introduction of better
weapons the catch has considerably IN
creased of late years, and it is probable
that unless prohibitive measures are en-
forced the sea otter will soon be extinct
Over two-thirds of all the sea offers
taken in Alaska are secured around the
islands of Saanack and the Chernobours, /.
and this Notwithstanding the incessant
hunting that goes on all the year round
This is due, Mr. Elliott believes, beth Ia the
presence of the crustseeaRs and mollnclS /
on which the animal feeds and to the i'm
meuse areas of kelp on which the sea otter .
breeds. The other great hunting place
is off the beach, in the surf, Gray's harv
Dor, sandy stretch of less than twenty
miles and south of the Straits of Fuca
An adult sea otter will measure from 81 |
to 1 J feet from muzze to tail, with a pro-
portionate girth Of little over two feet
The skin lies very loose, being in such
folds that when seized by the hand it |
seems to stretch and raise from the body |
of the animal like the skin on puppy's
neck. The mother otter bears a single /
pup, irrespective of season, and the old /
ones so about in solitary pairs, although |
the young have been Knewn to congregate
in schools Of forty or fifty, watched over
by few parent otters. The fore feet are
small and almost impotent, the hind flip |
pers evidently being the swimming or pro-
pulsive organs. They swim with surpris-
ing rapidity and are famous divers.
The natives say that the otter sleeps on
its back in the water the mother clasping
its young between her fore-paws. They
are exceedingly playful lying on their
backs in the wster, and tossing piece of
up in the air alternately from paw
to paw, and humoring the gambols of their
offspring for hours at a time. The quick
hearing and acute smell Of the sea otter
are not surpassed by any other creature
know to sea or land They viii take alarm
At small fire four or five miles to the
Eindward Of them, and the footsteps Of
nau must be washed by many tides before
is traces on the beach cease to drive il
rom landing there The sea otter is no
beauty. It's face is gIobular, lis eyes small, :
and snaky, its pointed ears in
ignifcant and placed belowthe level Of the
mouth, and its lips mustached aud bearded !
Add to this the fact that illey are very 5
leree and courageous when eorncrcd, and |
t will be seen that the sea otter is not a /
ileassat looking customer 10 tackle Ii
There are four methods Of capturing l
he sea qtteg hy surf shooting, by spear b
ng surrounds clubbing and nets Snrf (