MODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 227 



It has elsewhere been stated that beavers never eat 

 the bark of evergreen trees, although they cut down 

 pine and spruce in certain places. Pine-trees have been 

 found cut down in Oregon, without showing a limb or 

 a twig removed. They cut the fir-tree, commonly 

 called the balsam-fir, in the Lake Superior region, 

 generally taking the smallest. I have short cuttings 

 of this fir — single cuttings made from single young 

 trees, trimmed of their branches. The Indians affirm 

 that they are cut for the balsam. Whether beavers 

 eat it, my informants were unable to state; but they 

 believe it is used to heal their wounds; with how 

 much of truth I cannot say. There is no doubt that 

 evergreen trees are cut for some other purpose than 

 their bark, but with what object appears to be as yet 

 unknown; unless it be for their gums and mosses, 

 as elsewhere suggested. 



A knowledge of the habits of beavers is neces- 

 sary to the trapper to enable him successfully to pur- 

 sue his vocation. During the aboriginal period, this 

 animal was of no use except for his flesh, which was 

 not of much request; and the Indians had no method 

 of taking him except by the bow and arrow. After 

 the colonization of North America commenced, a new 

 value was given to the beaver for his fur, which was 

 chiefly used, as is well known, for making hats. From 

 their excessive numbers and wide distribution, their 

 pelts were among the first, and for a number of years 

 the largest, exportations of the colonists. The settlers 

 as well as the Indians united in the business of trap- 

 ping, which they pursued with such diligence that, 

 about the year 1700, beaver pelts ceased to be ex- 

 ported, to any considerable extent, from the New 



