BIG BEAVER DAMS. 165 



banks of the Macmillan River there are others 

 living on the creeks and backwaters in its 

 vicinity, and these, wherever possible, build 

 dams which are often of astonishing dimensions. 

 Later on I saw and photographed some very- 

 remarkable examples of these marvellous en- 

 gineering works. 



When descending theMacmillan River in early 

 October and gliding noiselessly down stream 

 in my canoe, I might have shot many beavers, 

 as in the evening they often sat on the bank 

 within a few yards of me, and. sometimes swam 

 out to look at the canoe. When they were quite 

 close I suppose they smelt us, as they always ended 

 by diving down suddenly, bringing their great 

 flat tails on to the water with a resounding slap. 

 But I had then become a very warm admirer 

 of these extraordinarily clever and interesting 

 animals, I did not want them for food ; the value 

 of their skins was not very great, and it would 

 have been a wicked and barbarous deed to have 

 shot one for sport. I may say that we ate the 

 one that Louis shot when we were on board the 

 " Emma Nott." Personally I found the flesh 



