328 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



more profoundly influenced for evil the lives 

 of the other wild creatures. 



The beavers are among the most interesting 

 of all woodland beasts. They had been so 

 trapped out that fifteen years ago there were 

 probably not a dozen individuals left on the 

 reserve. Then they were rigidly protected. 

 After ten years they had increased hterally a 

 hundredfold. At the end of that time trapping 

 was permitted for a year; hundreds of skins 

 were taken, and then trapping was again pro- 

 hibited. 



The beaver on the reserve at present number 

 between one and two thousand. We saw their 

 houses and dams everywhere. One dam was 

 six feet high; another dam was built to the 

 height of about a foot and a half, near one of 

 our camping places, in a week's time. The 

 architects were a family of beavers; some of 

 the branches bore the big marks of the teeth 

 of the parent beavers, some the marks of the 

 small teeth of the young ones. It was interest- 

 ing to see the dams grow, stones being heaped 

 on the up-current side to keep the branches in 

 place. Frequently we came across the animals 

 themselves, swimming a stream or lake, and 

 not much bothered by our presence. When 

 left unmolested they are quite as much diurnal 



