MODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 229 



tions of the Hudson's Bay Company, an interval of 

 five years is allowed to elapse, after a season's hunt in 

 a particular beaver district, before it is again resumed. 

 While these companies have prosecuted their opera- 

 tions upon a vast scale, they have by no means en- 

 joyed a monopoly of the business. Private adven- 

 turers in large numbers have engaged in trapping, and 

 followed it year after year as a regular pursuit. Our 

 Indian nations, also, whose territories produce fur- 

 bearing animals, trap more or less for the means of 

 subsistence. Within our national limits there are 

 hundreds, and even thousands of men, who now make 

 trapping their exclusive business. 



As success in trapping depends very much, as 

 before remarked, upon the knowledge the trapper has 

 of the liabits and mode of life of the several animals 

 he seeks to capture, an examination of the methods 

 resorted to in trapping beavers will develop some of 

 the habits of this animal not before introduced. It 

 is for this reason exclusively that the subject will be 

 considered. 



FiQ. 23. 



Newhouse's Trap. 



The steel trap came into use when the systematic 

 pursuit of the fur-bearing animals commenced. Its 

 form is well known. The most perfect instrument, 



