116 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. 



length, upon the margin of which the tree cuttings 

 were numerous. Each of the lower dams has a small 

 and narrow pond, but too inconsiderable in size to 

 afford much protection, since the banks, from their 

 rocky character, were unfavorable for burrows. The 

 volume of the stream was below that of the smallest 

 brooks, but, after rains, it sends down, undoubtedly, 

 an abundance of water. In each case the dam was 

 extended from one side of the gorge to the other, and 

 constructed of stick-work on the lower face, and earth 

 embankment on the upper, in the ordinary form. It 

 is difficult to understand the uses of any of these 

 dams, except the upper one, which sustains the main 

 pond; but we are not at liberty to suppose that all 

 this labor would have been performed without some 

 adequate object. A tame beaver shows an irresistible 

 propensity to dam up flowing water, — a propensity 

 which seizes him even when he sees water running in 

 rills in a yard, after a copious shower. Whether these 

 apparently unnecessary dams owe their origin to some 

 such unregulated fancy, I leave as a problem to such 

 as adopt the theory of the fettered intelligence of the 

 mutes. These dams show an aggregate descent in 

 the bed of the stream of about twenty-two feet in one 

 hundred and sixty; and are found to stand in definite 

 relations to each other. 



In the mountain districts, and in the high lands 

 which are broken up into ranges of hills, small lakes 

 are usually numerous. They are also favorite resorts 

 of beavers, who inhabit them not less readily than 

 the flowing streams. There are several such lakes 

 within the area embraced by the map, and they form 

 the most attractive features in the landscape. Em- 



