14 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



THE BEAYER AND HIS WOEKS. 



By Dk. G. archie STOCKWELL. 



THANKS to the decrease of castor in value, owing to the substi- 

 tutes which have been found in the skins of seal, nutria — the im- 

 proved preparation of other peltry of little value, such as the hare and 

 rabbit — and more than all in the use of silk in the manufacture of hats, 

 a little breathing-time has been allowed the beaver, which a few years 

 since bade fair to speedily become extinct. 



Formerly inhabiting every part of North America possessed of 

 forest-growth, at present it is found only in the wilder and least ac- 

 cessible regions of the continent. At the time the reindeer, musk-ox, 

 mammoth, and rhinoceros roamed the temperate zone, beaver were 

 abundant, and filled the country on every hand, from the Mexican 

 Gulf to the Barren Grounds, with their works — wondrous monuments 

 of patience and industry. Perhaps their fur helped to clothe the 

 ignoi-ant savage that eked out a precarious existence by means of 

 game killed with flint-tipped arrows and javelins, and dismembered 

 and divided by hatchets and knives of stone. Doubtless the broad 

 tails were then, as now, esteemed delicate tidbits. And the wondrous 

 instinct displayed may possibly have taught the primeval dweller the 

 rudiments of architecture now exemplified in beautiful structures of 

 wood and stone; for to this day we find some tribes, low in the scale of 

 humanity and civilization, such as the Fischer Lapps and natives of 

 Terra del Fuego, living in huts that, save in point of size, are exact 

 counterparts of the dwellings of the beaver. 



Of all quadrupeds, the beaver is one of the most peculiar and inter- 

 esting. He is the only one that possesses membranes between the toes 

 of the hind-feet, at the same time none on the fore ones — in fact, re- 

 sembling a terrestrial mammal in front, and an aquatic one behind. 

 When full grown, he exhibits a thick, heavy body over two feet in 

 length, and from thirty to fifty pounds' weight, terminating in a full, 

 compact, cat-like head, with heavy jaws provided with wondrous mus- 

 cular development. The tail is oval, resembling closely the blade of 

 a paddle, twelve or fourteen inches in length, and four or five in 

 breadth, flattened both above and below, and covered with a thick 

 dusky skin that at first glance appears to be protected by scales. The 

 old writers were accustomed to tell us that this peculiar appendage 

 was used as a trowel for plastering his dwelling or repairing his dam, 

 as a maul for driving stakes, and as a vehicle for transporting loads. 

 But modern science has proved the fallacy of such statements, and we 

 now know that it serves but as a prop or fifth leg when sitting at 

 work, or as scull and rudder while navigating the waters. 



Generally, beaver are nocturnal in habits, mild and tranquil in dis- 



