Note (return) — Chapter IV · TRANSACTIONS AMONGST THE NATIVES OF NORTH AMERICA; DISCOVERIES ALONG THAT COAST AND THE EASTERN EXTREMITY OF ASIA, NORTHWARD TO ICY CAPE; AND RETURN SOUTHWARD TO THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.

The sea-animals seen off the coast, were whales, porpoises, and seals. The last of these seem only of the common sort, judging from the skins which we saw here, their colour being either silvery, yellowish, plain, or spotted with black. The porpoise is the phocena. I have chosen to refer to this class the sea-otter, as living mostly in the water. It might have been sufficient to have mentioned, that this animal abounds here, as it is fully described in different books, taken from the accounts of the Russian adventurers in their expeditions eastward from Kamtschatka, if there had not been a small difference in one that we saw. We, for some time, entertained doubts, whether the many skins which the natives brought, really belonged to this animal, as our only reason for being of that opinion, was founded on the size, colour, and fineness of the fur, till a short while before our departure, when a whole one, that had been just killed, was purchased from some strangers who came to barter; and of this Mr Webber made a drawing. It was rather young, weighing only twenty-five pounds, of a shining or glossy black colour, but many of the hairs being tipt with white, gave it a greyish cast at first sight. The face, throat, and breast were of a yellowish white, or very light-brown colour, which, in many of the skins, extended the whole length of the belly. It had six cutting teeth in each jaw, two of those of the lower jaw being very minute, and placed without, at the base of the two middle ones. In these circumstances, it seems to disagree with those found by the Russians, and also in not having the outer toes of the hind feet skirted with a membrane. There seemed also a greater variety in the colour of the skins, than is mentioned by the describers of the Russian sea-otters. These changes of colour certainly take place at different gradations of life. The very young ones had brown hair, which was coarse, with very little fur underneath; but those of the size of the entire animal, which came into our possession, and just described, had a considerable quantity of that substance, and both in that colour and state the sea-otters seem to remain, till they have attained their full growth. After that, they lose the black colour, and assume a deep brown or sooty colour, but have then a greater quantity of very fine fur, and scarcely any long hairs. Others, which we suspected to be still older, were of a chesnut-brown; and a few skins were seen that had even acquired a perfectly yellow colour. The fur of these animals, as mentioned in the Russian accounts, is certainly softer and finer than that of any others we know of; and, therefore, the discovey of this part of the continent of North America, where so valuable an article of commerce may be met with, cannot be a matter of indifference.2