280 : DWELLINGS OF MUSKRAT AND BEAVER—GILPIN. 
central hole. The angle of slope was about fifteen degrees, and 
about one foot from the water. It was neatly lined with grass, 
far more neatly than the nest of the muskrat, and the projecting 
ends of the white sticks into the sides were neatly gnawed 
smooth. Through the central hole we could see the water flow- 
ing beneath. The upper part of the shelf, near the sides of the 
dome, was much drier and better lined than the edge near the 
water, which seemed wet and damp. The galleries to the water 
in this one were two, and though we did not discover them, 
there must have been towards the rock side air-holes, as no 
air could come through the two feet of mud thatch. The height 
of the structure was about three feet; the long diameter about 
twelve, and the short one about six feet. 
Another which I opened in Annapolis County in the head waters 
of the Allen river, was somewhat larger, and gave greater trouble 
in breaking open. I put my feet through the opening and stood 
upon the floor of the internal nest. It seemed so solid beneath 
me that I supposed it rested partly upon the shelving rock. The 
structure, both of these domes and the muskrats, will be under- 
stood far easier by the sketches and sections I show you. They 
differ in some respects from the description of Hearne, a most 
accurate describer, and others. Hearne speaks of them as eight 
feet in thickness and composed of many cavities, added after- 
wards to the central nest with which they communicated ; other 
writers speak of double stories. Without for a moment disbe- 
lieving their accounts of buildings, modified by differences of 
climate, and of seclusion, found near the Polar circle, I can only 
describe the less pretentious dwellings of our own Province, where 
numbers are less, and complete solitude, bringing with its wants 
a ereater need of concealment, is never found. On the bottom of 
the stream, near the houses, are narrow and deep grooves in the 
mud usually formed, these connect with the submarine water 
galleries. These marine trenches serve, when the water is low 
upon the stream, for the beavers to swim in without exposing 
themselves above water, and are, no doubt, caused by their 
excavating the mud and water grasses in building their domes. 
They are also very well seen about the muskrat houses. The In- 
dians tell us that their trenches as well as the galleries on the way 
