THE BEAVER EATER. 



813 



controlled the traffic and inspired relentless war upon the inno- 

 cent owners of these integuments. In olden times the hapless 

 beaver was hunted for his castoreum pouches, which, Pliny says, 

 the creature would bite off and leave to the hunter as a ransom 

 for its life ; but no compromise was possible when its coat was 

 demanded in midwinter. Thus every beaver was the counter- 

 part or token of value for some article of use or ornament. 



A Simple Form of the " Deadfall." 



brought from France to quicken the cunning and perseverance 

 of the trapper, who would naturally exaggerate his losses, although 

 the slaughter of beavers each fall and spring by the ever- watch- 

 ful " beaver eater " must have been very appreciable. It is also 

 worth noting that the distribution of the destroyer completely 

 overlaid that of the destroyed, and that where the beaver has 

 been exterminated the " beaver eater " has soon disappeared. The 

 explanation of the other romances lies in the fact that the gour- 

 mand having already well earned unenviable notoriety, had the 

 sins of the cougar, the lynx, the badger, and the fisher visited 

 upon him, and many feats impossible otherwise to understand 

 are thus accounted for. 



The Indians called it ommeethatsees and okeecoohaivgeiv , as 

 well as quickivahay ; and corruptions from these have given us 

 the English forms queequehatch, quiquihatch, quiquehatch, quiche- 

 hatch, and quickJiatch ; also the French qui7icajou, corvajou, cor- 

 cajue, cartajou, car cay ou, karkajou, and carcajou, to one or other 

 of which forms we find references in nearly all early American 

 writings. The trials endured by the luckless hunter, whose track 

 was once discovered .by this monster, are frequently recounted. 

 Day after day would the hunter visit his traps, only to find the 

 ruinous work of his four-footed enemy, who, not satisfied with 

 robbing the occasional prize, would often, simply for the morsel 

 of bait, completely destroy scores of traps. Hence arose the 



