162 RECENT HUNTING TRIPS. 



yet tliey had only been trapped or in any way 

 interfered witli in one or two iDlaces, as the very 

 few trappers who had penetrated into this 

 region had devoted ahnost all their time and 

 energy to catching martens, which are the most 

 valuable fur-bearing animals in the Yukon 

 country with the exception, of course, of the 

 very rare silver fox. 



The work done by the beavers was most 

 astonishing. All along both banks of the river, 

 wherever there were groves of poplar trees, 

 they had cut down large numbers of them. 

 When these trees were small — saplings of only 

 an inch or two in diameter — they appeared to 

 have been cut through with only a couple of 

 bites of the beaver's sharp chisel-like teeth. 

 In the case of larger trees — and we saw many 

 that had been felled which were nearly if not 

 quite a foot in diameter — it would be very 

 interesting to ascertain whether more than one 

 beaver works at one tree, and what amount of 

 work one of these animals can do in a night, 

 for they only work during the hours of dark- 

 ness. 



