370 FOUB-FOOTED AMERICANS 



we have cut down all the trees, making it so wet that 

 no more trees will grow; and rich, tall grass springs up, 

 covering the decayed stumps. House People call tliese 

 places Beaver Meadows. We do not like the wood of 

 evergreens, and so often we have to search far away 

 from water for our food, and after the trees are cut, 

 they must be carried a weary distance home. We have 

 two ways of doing this : one is to make a straight path- 

 way by felling everything that would interfere with us; 

 the other is to dig a canal between ponds or streams 

 and, letting in water, float our wood home, as House 

 People float their logs from lumber camps to sawmills. 



" ' Having made our canal, three feet wide and as 

 many deep, we must arrange to keep the water deep 

 enough for our work. Dee[) Avater is a '' must be " in 

 the Beaver world, wdiether in canals or in the ponds 

 and rivers. The water must be high enough to cover 

 the doorway of the burrows. 



" ' Next comes our work as engineers, for we have to 

 build dams to keep the water back and make it stand 

 at the exact depth we wish. 



" ' House People have all seen the dams that keep 

 the water in their mill ponds ; but we build longer, 

 better ones than theirs, sometimes perhaps they may be 

 only a few feet in length, but at others many hundred. 

 Often we begin by interlacing growing bushes with 

 sticks, filling the gaps with stones and mud on the water 

 side, then adding sticks from time to time below, until 

 we have made our barrier strong enough. At other 

 times we build over fallen trees, and raise a dam from 

 them of almost solid mud, strengthened with tree boughs. 

 We are never wasteful, and seldom use fresh wood for 



