The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-13
HOONAH SEA OTTER HUNTERS.
They Go Out in Fleets of Canoes and
Are Very sISiIfuI-EnterinE Lituya
IN
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
The Hoonah Indians are the best sea
otter hunters of all the Alaskan tribes.
Ihey are very skillful at it, and as the
furs are very valuable, they make a good
thing out of it. The Hoonahs go after
sea offers in large companies. Ten or
twelve families hunt together. There are
very good grounds about ten miles out
from Lltuya bay and there the Hoonahs
90 their best work. They use spruce ca
noes which are small compared with most
Alaskan canoes, and which. being light
ana easy to handle in the chase, are
swl1ter than the ordinary boats. Usually
there are four paddlers, but the number
may De greater or smaller. The head of
Ihe FAMILY sits in the bow with his gun
across his lap in such position that he can
drop the paddle and pick up the gun In
traction of a second. The mother, as
oIten as not with baby in her lap, sits
IN the stern with big, long-handed pad
gle ana steers. The children do the eff
fective padding. Every Alaskan Indian
chlld learns to paddle as soon as il learns
TO walk. The Indians there have been a
canoe travelling race so long that thev in
merit abnormally developed bodies and
arms, but their legs are not strong.
because OF the great bore in Latuya
bay 1t is only when the weather is very
calm that the Indians can go out to hunt
sea outer. They kill with shotguns load
e go with heavy charges of buckshot And
that western boys hunt hell divers and
Dutter-Dall ducks. When they sight an
otter they fire several blang shots. The
otter dives and all the canoes circle around
the place where he went down, waiting
Tor him to come to the surface again
Wnen ne does they fire more blank shots
s aner scare ta him into diving again. They
tired out and one of the canoes can
get within gunshot of him. Sometimes
tney have two or three otter diving at
lively
well as great sport
Getting back with the days game TO
the camp inside the bay is always sharp
work and sometimes very dangerous. The
pay runs inland about six miles, and va
RES from three-quarters of a mile to
one and a half miles in width. The en-
trance is about 300 yards wide, with from
four to six fathoms of water at low tide
Rocky splits Jut out from the mainland
at each side. Just at the head of the
southern spit are several large boulders
the largest of which is called Cormorant
ROCK. The northern spit is a rocky gla-
cial morass. Vessels going in and out
always wait for slack tide. Except at
slack tide the breakers extend entirely
across the entrance, and when the tide
is running either way the current is ex-
tremely swift and a gutter is formed in
mld-channel from which the current sets
strongly toward the shores, so that a
vessel trying to go through on the tide
would almost certainly be washed against
Cormorant Rock or the northern spit In
perfectly calm weather the tide, ebb or
flood, shows a considerable bore, and il
a vessel hit it just right she would 20
through as if sailing down hill The
mouth of the bay is only about a ca
ble's length long, and after that there is
no danger.
The, Indian sea otter hunters never I'M
dertake the passage except at slack wa
ter. If they arrive before the tide serves
they wait until it does If they get in
from the otter grounds only a very few
minutes after slack water they prefer to
stand the ocean swell outside than I'M
dertake to go through in their light ca
noes. AS matter of fact, they are safer
outside, for there is a big eddy between
the tideway and Cormorant Rock where
they are perfectly safe unless a wind
comes up and the sea gets rough. There
they wait for the next turn of the tide
and it is not unusual to see half a
dozen canoes drifting about in this eddy
with most of the occupants asleep. If
the sea comes up while they are waiting
outside the Indians make landing among
the rocks on the ocean side rather than
try to make the passage through the
breakers This is an extremely hazardous
undertaking, but the Indians are so skill
full in handling their canoes that acct
dents seldom happen. They swim like
seals from babyhood and are usually so
covered with oil and grease that the shock
of sudden immersion in the cold water
does not affect them.