58 ^ Natural HUtory and Hunting of the Beaver. 



xxvii., p. 268), mentions that he has seen traces, and was not aware 

 that the animal itself had been found. The fact of the matter is, he 

 could have found abundance not far from his own door. Near Vic- 

 toria, in jMr. Yales' Swamp, and in one near Dr. Tolmie's, are several 

 Ijeavers ; and on the road to Cadborough Bay there are, in a small 

 stream near where the road crosses, the remains of an old dam. In 

 the interior they are almost everywhere abundant and on the increase, 

 lii a swam2:)y lake near the mouth of the Cowichan Lake we found 

 many; and an extensive swamp near the entrance of the Puntledge 

 Lake was a great stronghold. On Young's Creek, flowing into the 

 same lake, were many dams. In the spring of 1866, when crossing 

 the island from Fort Rupert to the head of Quatseeuo Sound with 

 some Indians, a great portion of our route lay among these beaver 

 ponds and dams. All through this district beavers swarm. The 

 camps of the Indians were full of them ; and the women laid before 

 us the daintiest pieces of the meat, or exhibited to their white visitor 

 all sorts of curiosities in the shape of foetal beavers and beaver's teeth 

 with which they were gambling, using marked ones in much the same 

 manner as our dice. At the Hudson Bay Company's Fort we lived 

 upon beaver during that spring — beaver roasted and beaver broiled ; 

 beaver tail and beaver joint ; beaver morning, noon, and night ! In 

 regard to the beavers' houses, I am forced to come to the conclusion 

 either that travelers who have written regarding the beaver in the 

 country east of the Rocky Mountains have woefully taken advantage 

 of a traveler's license, having listened to mere hearsay wonders with- 

 out seeing for themselves, or that the habits of the beaver differ much 

 in different parts of the country. 



It is only after they have been pointed out to you that the "houses" 

 can be recognized, as they seem like loose bundles of sticks lying on 

 the water. In a recent account of the beaver in the British provinces 

 in North America, by an anonymous writer, the houses are described 

 as being exactly the same as I have seen them in the West, and not 

 plastered domes. The vigilance of the little builders is so great, that 

 it is rarely, unless closely watched 'for a long time, that they can be 

 seen. A passing traveler rarely surprises them at their work. 



My friend, John Tod, chief trader in the Hon. Hudson's Bay Com- 

 pany's service, during a long residence at Fort M'Leod (a post of that 

 Fur Company, situated in the northern portion of British Columbia), 

 has communicated to me his observations, which, differing in some 

 respects, substantiate in the main those of Mr. Green. The beaver 

 has from four to ten young — most often four, sometimes eight, rarely 

 ten. It carries its young six months. It produces in May. When the 



