THE BEAVER AND HIS WORKS. 19 



close the twigs that project through in building (the whole affair ap- 

 parently conceived and put together in a helter-skelter fashion), they 

 are very compact, exhibiting both solidity and firmness, and are well 

 adapted to warmth and protection. Each dwelling consists of but one 

 apartment, and this opens by a short incline beneath the surface of 

 the water into a channel dredged to sufficient depth to avoid being 

 blocked by ice in winter. It is easy to determine whether a dwelling 

 is in present occupation by the appearance of the trails over which the 

 beaver drags his supplies from the wood ; by the freshly-peeled sticks 

 the bark of which has served for food, and which are invariably 

 heaped up upon the house itself ; and in winter by the melting snow 

 on the roof caused by the exhalations from the occupants. 



One dwelling harbors from four to twelve individuals, rarely more, 

 though eighteen or twenty have been noted, all of the same family, 

 but of two generations, representing litters of kittens of two siiccessive 

 years. The young make their appearance usually in May, and are from 

 four to eight in number, five being the average. Queer-looking little 

 fellows they are too, with their heavy heads, big cutting teeth, flat tails, 

 . and fine, mouse-like fur, not yet disfigured by the long, coarse hair so 

 noticeable with adults. When taken at an early age they are easily 

 domesticated, and are so esteemed as pets in the far West and fur 

 countries that almost every trading-post or camp can exhibit three or 

 four. It is no uncommon occurrence to see one running about an 

 Indian lodge, submitting patiently to the wiles and caprices of the little 

 savages, or joining in their sports, and frequently receiving with the 

 papoose the nourishment from the maternal breast. The cry of the 

 " kitten," too, is so exactly like that of an unweaned child that one is 

 readily mistaken for the other by even the initiated. On one occasion I 

 visited a wngwam at Little Traverse, Michigan, for the purpose of view- 

 ing a " real, live, baby beaver." " He cry all same as papoose," remarked 

 the squaw, as she brought the little fellow forward, at the same time 

 giving him an unmerciful pinch that caused him to set up a doleful little 

 wail that, had I not been forewarned, I should certainly have believed 

 to proceed from a minute, black-eyed specimen of an aboriginal infant 

 that, swathed in cloth, beads, and bark, and bound fast, mummy-like, 

 to a board, stood leaned up against the wall. By-the-way, do Indian 

 babies ever cry or laugh ? I suppose they do, occasionally, though 

 I do not remember ever hearing one. I think it is Mr. Lewis Mor- 

 gan, in his excellent work on " The American Beaver," that tells of a 

 trapper on the upper Yellowstone who, while making his rounds, heard, 

 as he supposed, the wail of an infant. Fearing the vicinity of hos- 

 tiles, he approached with great caution, only to find that the cry pro- 

 ceeded from two beaver kittens sitting upon a low bank by the stream, 

 and mourning for the nourishment only a mother could give ; while 

 she, poor thing, was fast in the merciless jaws of his trap. 



When the youngsters have completed their second year, they are 



