Excerpt from Carl Dittman's memoir, “Narrative of a Seafaring Life on the Coast of California."
… The following day we went on shore & put up a tent or shelter near the beach at a point already selected. Nearby we made a species of hut for the old woman, who seemed perfectly contented with us making no attempt to leave us, although the opportunity was not wanting. Here we remained about a month. The old woman remained in camp with the cook, one of the Mission indians, the rest of us being away after otter the greater part of each day. The old woman’s chief occupation was working on her baskets, of which she had several not yet completed, wandering about on the Island, or bringing wood & water. She was always anxious to help when she saw an opportunity of making herself useful. She was always cheerful, & always talking & laughing. She took readily to our food & only on one occasion showed any disposition to return to her former food. I killed an otter from shore one morning, & after hauling it ashore & skinning it were about to throw the carcass in to the water, to prevent its becoming offensive near camp. It had been dragged down to the edge of the water & was about thrown in when the old woman came running down to where it lay, talking & gesticulating excitedly, caught the otter by the flipper & hauled it back to where it had been skinned. Then she made signs to us that that was an inexcusable waste of meat. To humor her we let it remain where she had dragged it until it began to smell so strong that it was found necessary to remove the carcass. This time she made no objections, but on the contrary made signs that we should take it away, at the same time, to show her disgust she held her nose & made us understand that that meat was bad, & then pointing to ours & smacking her lips that she liked that better. The otter was a female & was with young, which she would have given birth to in a few days. We took the young one & after skinning it carefully, stuffed the skin & gave it to the old woman. She at once hung it by a string to the roof of her hut, & lying on her back under it would amuse herself for hours at a time by swinging it backwards & forwards.
… The following day we went on shore & put up a tent or shelter near the beach at a point already selected. Nearby we made a species of hut for the old woman, who seemed perfectly contented with us making no attempt to leave us, although the opportunity was not wanting. Here we remained about a month. The old woman remained in camp with the cook, one of the Mission indians, the rest of us being away after otter the greater part of each day. The old woman’s chief occupation was working on her baskets, of which she had several not yet completed, wandering about on the Island, or bringing wood & water. She was always anxious to help when she saw an opportunity of making herself useful. She was always cheerful, & always talking & laughing. She took readily to our food & only on one occasion showed any disposition to return to her former food. I killed an otter from shore one morning, & after hauling it ashore & skinning it were about to throw the carcass in to the water, to prevent its becoming offensive near camp. It had been dragged down to the edge of the water & was about thrown in when the old woman came running down to where it lay, talking & gesticulating excitedly, caught the otter by the flipper & hauled it back to where it had been skinned. Then she made signs to us that that was an inexcusable waste of meat. To humor her we let it remain where she had dragged it until it began to smell so strong that it was found necessary to remove the carcass. This time she made no objections, but on the contrary made signs that we should take it away, at the same time, to show her disgust she held her nose & made us understand that that meat was bad, & then pointing to ours & smacking her lips that she liked that better. The otter was a female & was with young, which she would have given birth to in a few days. We took the young one & after skinning it carefully, stuffed the skin & gave it to the old woman. She at once hung it by a string to the roof of her hut, & lying on her back under it would amuse herself for hours at a time by swinging it backwards & forwards.
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Listen to memories of visit to San Nicolas Island in 1853
Carl Dittman talks about camping on the island with the Lone Woman for a month while hunting sea otters.
- Date created:
- 10/14/2020
Last updated: February 26, 2020