. Our country: West. imal, it is a meat, fish and shell-fisheater, and seldom tastes a vegetable substance. The hunting of the sea-otter calls for hardship and risk oflife which the chase of no other fur-bearing animal known toman demands. It is so alert and shy, so cunning and strong,that its capture involves the keenest tact and utmost endur-ance on the part of its human captor. 58 HUNTING THE SEA-OTTER. The men who make this chase of the sea-otter their solebusiness are mostly natives of the Aleutian Islands, and ofthe Alaskan Peninsula. In general terms they have a strikingresemblance to t
. Our country: West. imal, it is a meat, fish and shell-fisheater, and seldom tastes a vegetable substance. The hunting of the sea-otter calls for hardship and risk oflife which the chase of no other fur-bearing animal known toman demands. It is so alert and shy, so cunning and strong,that its capture involves the keenest tact and utmost endur-ance on the part of its human captor. 58 HUNTING THE SEA-OTTER. The men who make this chase of the sea-otter their solebusiness are mostly natives of the Aleutian Islands, and ofthe Alaskan Peninsula. In general terms they have a strikingresemblance to the Japanese in stature, in physiognomy anddisposition, being of a calm and docile nature. They areshort and muscular, and the most thorough watermen in theworld. Some of the most successful hunters reside now in neatframe cottages, but a majority of them are still dwelling inprimitive earthen dug-out huts. The richest hamlet of these people, owing to its closeproximity to the most favored resorts of the sea-otter, is. Morzhovoi. Morzhovoi, situated on the extreme end of the Peninsula ofAlaska. Forty miles directl)^ south of its site are the cele-brated Sannak sea-otter hunting grounds, where more thanhalf the entire annual Alaskan catch is taken every year. Sannak Island, islets and reefs, embracing an area of lessthan twenty miles square, is the chief sea-otter resort of allthis vast wild region. It has a coast circuit of about eighteenmiles. Spots of sand beach are found here and there, but thegreater portion of its sea margin is composed of enormouswater-worn boulders piled up by the surf. HUNTING THE SEA-OTTER. 59 To the southward and westward of the island, stretchingdirectly out to sea, is a succession of small islets and reefs,which are bare only at low tide, rocky shoals and heavy bedsof kelp or sea-cabbage surrounding them; then again, aboutthirty miles to the eastward are islets and reefs, very similarto those of Sannak, and next in favor with the sea-otter as itsfeed
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