MODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 219 



quickest movement is by a gallop, or a series of jumps, 

 which take him along, notwithstanding his clumsy 

 frame, at a rapid rate. When swimming with a 

 part of his head out of water, the tail is extended 

 motionless behind; but when he is entirely under, 

 and swimming at the most rapid rate, it is swung 

 from side to side with a peculiar diagonal stroke; 

 that is, it is raised in a partly vertical position, 

 and then moved upward and to the side, when 

 the relative position of the edges of the tail are re- 

 versed, and it is swung in the opposite direction. It 

 is the precise movement by which a boat is sculled 

 with an oar. I have not seen this tail movement, but 

 make the statement upon the authority of Indians by 

 whom it has frequently been observed. By means of 

 his tail used as a scull, and his webbed hind feet, the 

 propelling power of the beaver in swimming is very 

 great. They carry small stones and earth with their 

 paws, holding them under the throat, and walking on 

 their hind feet. Large stones, weighing five or six 

 pounds, of which size they are found on dams, they 

 push along in different ways — with the shoulder, with 

 the hip, and with the tail. They work the tail under 

 a stone, and give it a throw forward. In moving ma- 

 terials of various kinds they are very ingenious and 

 persevering. It is said by the trappers, with how 

 much of truth I cannot affirm, that they will place 

 earth and sod upon each other's backs and tails, to be 

 thus transferred to the dam. They handle a stick 

 with their paws as dextrously as a man would with 

 his hands, turning it at pleasure while cutting it in 

 two or eating off the bark. Taking one end of a 

 short cutting in their teeth, and rising up on their 



