308 APPENDICES. 



other advantages which are reaped from such a situation ; for it 

 must be observed that the beaver which build in rivers and creeks, 

 always cut their wood above their houses, so that the current, 

 with little trouble, conveys it to the place required. 



The beaver houses are built of the same materials as their 

 dams, and are always proportioned in size to the number of 

 inhabitants, which seldom exceed four old, and six or eight 

 young ones ; though, by chance, I have seen above double that 

 number. 



These houses, though not altogether unworthy of admiration, 

 fall very short of the general discription given of them; for in- 

 stead of order or regulation being observed in rearing them, they 

 are of a much ruder structure than their dams. 



Those who have undertaken to describe the inside of beaver 

 houses, as having several apartments appropriated to various 

 uses, such as eating, sleeping, store-houses for provisions, and 

 •one for their natural occasions, etc., must have been very little 

 acquainted with the subject; or, which is still worse, guilty of 

 attempting to impose on the credulous by representing the great- 

 est falsehoods as real facts. Many years constant residence 

 among the Indians, during which I had an opportunity of seeing 

 several hundreds of these houses, has enabled me to affirm that 

 everything of the kind is entirely void of truth ; for notwithstand- 

 ine: the sagacity of these animals, it has never been observed that 

 they aim at any other conveniences in their houses than to have 

 a dry place to lie on ; and there they usually eat their victuals, 

 which they occasionally take out of the water. 



It frequently happens, that some of the large houses are found 

 to have one or more partitions, if they deserve that appellation ; 

 but that is no more than a part of the main building, left by the 

 sagacity of the beaver to support the roof On such occasions 

 it is common for these different apartments, as some are pleased 

 to call them, to have no communication with each other but by 

 water ; so that, in fact, they may be called double or treble houses, 

 rather than different apartments of the same house. I have seen 

 a large beaver house built in a small island, that had near a dozen 

 houses under one roof; and, two or three of these only excepted, 

 none of them had any communication with each other but by 

 water. As there were beavers enough to inhabit each apartment, 

 it is more than probable that each family knew its own, and 



