aled it under stones. In
such a case some foxes stood on guard, and if a man approached all
assisted in speedily concealing the stolen article in the sand so
that no trace of it was left. When any of the men slept out of doors
at night the foxes carried off their caps and gloves, and made their
way under the covering. They nosed the noses of the sleepers to find
out whether they were dead or living, and attempted to nibble at any
who held their breath. As the female sea-lions and sea-bears often
suffocate their young during sleep, the foxes every morning made an
inspection of the place where these animals lie down in immense
herds, and if they found a dead young one they immediately helped
each other, like good scavengers, to carry away the carcase. When
men were employed out of doors they had to drive the foxes away with
sticks, and they became, in consequence of the slyness and cunning
with which they knew how to carry out their thefts and the skill
which they showed in combining to gain an end which they could not
compass as single animals, actually dangerous to the shipwrecked
men, by whom they were therefore heartily hated, pursued, tormented,
and killed. Since then thousands and thousands of foxes have been
killed on Behring Island by the fur-hunters. Now they are so scarce
that during our stay there we did not see one. Those that still
survive, besides, as the Europeans settled on the island informed
me, do not wear the precious dark blue dress formerly common but the
white, which is of little value. On the neighbouring Copper Island,
however, there are still dark blue foxes in pretty large
numbers.[362]

Nine hundred sea-otters were killed here by Steller and his
companions in 1741-42. The following quotation is taken from
Steller's description of this animal which is now so shy at the
sight of man:--

"With respect to playfulness it surpasses every other
animal that lives either in the sea or on the land. When it
comes up out of the sea it shakes the water from its fur,
and dresses it as a cat its head with its fore-paws,
stretches its body, arranges its hair, throws its head this
way and that, contemplating itself and its beautiful fur
with evident satisfaction. The animal is so much taken up
with this dressing of itself, that while thus employed it
may easily be approached and killed. If one strikes a
sea-otter twenty times across the back, it bears it
patientl