SAMUEL HEARNE's ARTICLE ON THE BEAVER. 311 



through the roof. It is a mistaken notion that the woodwork is 

 first completed and then plastered; for the whole of their houses, 

 as well as their dams, are from the foundation one mass of wood 

 and mud mixed with stones, if they can be procured. Tlie mud 

 is always taken from the edge of the bank, or the bottom of the 

 creek or pond, near the door of the house ; and though their fore 

 paws arc so small, 3*et it is held close up between them under 

 their throat, that they carr}'- both mud and stones ; while they 

 always drag the wood with their teeth. 



All their work is executed in the night, and they are so expe- 

 ditious in completing it that in the course of one night I have 

 known them to have collected as much mud at their houses as to 

 have amounted to some thousands of their little handfids; and 

 when any mixture of grass or straw lias appeared in it, it has 

 been most assuredly mere chance, owing to the nature of the 

 ground from which they had taken it. As to their designedly 

 making a composition for that purpose it is entirely void of truth. 



It is a great piece of policy in these animals to cover, or plaster, 

 as it is usually called, the outside of their houses ever}'" fall with 

 fresh mud, and as late as possible in the autumn, even when the 

 frost becomes pretty severe ; as by this means it soon freezes as 

 hard as a stone, and prevents their common enemy, the quiqui- 

 hatch, from disturbing them during the winter. And as they are 

 fi'cquently seen to walk over their work, and sometimes to give a 

 flap with their tail, particularly when plunging into the water, 

 this has, without doubt, given rise to the vulgar opinion that they 

 use their tails as a trowel, with which they plaster their houses ; 

 whereas that flapping of the tail is no more than a custom, which 

 they always preserve, even when they become tame and domes- 

 tic, and more particularly so when they are startled. 



Their food chiefly consists of a large root, something resembling 

 a cabbage stalk, which grows at the bottom of the lakes and rivers. 

 They eat also the bark of trees, particularly that of the poplar, 

 birch, and willow; but the ice preventing them from getting to 

 the land in winter, they have not any barks to feed upon during 

 that season, except that of such sticks as they cut down in sum- 

 mer and throw into the water opposite the doors of their houses; 

 and as they generally eat a great deal, the roots above men- 

 tioned constitute the chief part of their food during the winter. 

 In summer they vary their diet by eating various kinds of herb- 



