OF. THE POLAR SEA. 141 
of the Canadians. The mink, (atjackash,) has 
been often confounded by writers with the fisher. 
It is a much smaller animal, inhabits the banks 
of rivers, and swims well; its prey is fish. The 
otter, (neekeek,) is larger than the English species, 
and produces a much more valuable fur. 
The musk rat (watsuss, or musquash,) is very 
abundant in all the small grassy lakes. They 
build small conical houses with a mixture of hay 
and earth; those which build early raising their 
houses on the mud of the marshes, and those 
which build later in the season founding their 
habitations upon the surface of the ice itself. 
The house'covers a hole in the ice, which permits 
them to go into the water in search of the roots 
on which they feed. In severe winters when the 
small lakes are frozen to the bottom, and these 
animals cannot procure their usual food, they: 
prey upon each other. In this way great num- 
bers are destroyed. i 
The beaver (ammisk) furnishes the staple fur’ 
of the country. Many surprising stories have 
been told of the sagacity with which this animal 
suits the form of its habitation, retreats, and dam, 
to local circumstances; and I compared the ac- 
count of its manners, given by Cuvier, in his 
Régne Animal, with the reports of the Indians, 
and ‘found them to agree exactly. They have 
