BEAVER SETTLEMENTS. 273 
centre’ of the entire beaver population of Oregon ; 
in some of the patches of open water, there cer- 
tainly was not room to jam in even a tiny beaver 
cottage of the humblest pretensions, although 
the open space occupied by the town was many 
acres in extent. The trees, although a good half- 
mile from the water, were felled in all directions, 
as if busy emigrants had been making a clearing. 
The branches, lopped from the fallen trees, had 
been dragged by these busy animals along the 
well-beaten roads, that led in all directions, from 
the timber to the rushes, through which roads 
were also cut, to gain an easy access to the 
water. 
The branches, many of them large and heavy, 
are dragged by the beavers—backing along the 
roads, two or three often assisting in tugging a 
single branch—until the water is reached ; then 
they seize it with their chisel-like teeth, and 
using their powerful tails, both as rudders and 
screw-propellers, float it out, to be employed in 
building their dome-shaped residences. But of 
this more at length, when referring to the habits 
of the beaver. 
Wildfowl too are here, in great variety and 
abundance. For the first time I see the breeding- 
ground of the Rough-billed Pelican (Pelicanus 
VOL. I. ue 
