BEAVER LODGES iVND BURROWS. 145 



of interlaced sticks filled in with mud intermixed with 

 vegetable fibre, and were extended to the bottom of 

 the pond and trench, with the exception of the open- 

 ings at their ends. At the places where they were 

 constructed through the floor they were finished with 

 neatness and precision; the upper parts and sides 

 formino; an arch more or less regular, while the bottom 

 and floor edges were formed with firm and compacted 

 earth, in which small sticks were imbedded. It is 

 difiicult to realize the artistic appearance of some of 

 these entrances without actual inspection. 



These lodges, at first small, and with contracted 

 chambers, are enlarged, both in external size and in 

 internal accommodation, by the process of repairing. 

 After their winter cuttings are peeled of their bark 

 for food, they are put out of the lodge, and, in due 

 time, a portion of them are placed upon its roof to 

 supply the waste by settlement and decay. Late in 

 the fall, each season, the sides of their lodges, nearly 

 to the summits, are, in some cases, plastered over with 

 mud, which, soon freezing, materially increases their 

 strength. The decayed portion of the walls and roof 

 which form the chamber within are, from time to 

 time, removed, which gradually increases its size. By 

 the two processes of external addition and internal 

 enlargement, continued through a series of years, a 

 lodge is finally produced of the size represented in the 

 engraving. The quantity of sticks, poles, and billets 

 of wood used in its construction was about a cord. 



It has elsewhere been stated that the entrances of 

 these lodges were from two to three feet below the 

 surface of the water in all cases, and that in this 

 lodge the level of the water in the pond stood within 



10 . 



