NORTHERN OCEAN. 
rable exertion that they can keep it from trailing 
233 
1771. 
onthe ground. This being the cafe, they cannot U~~U 
fit erect like a fquirrel, which is their common December. 
pofture: particularly when eating, or when they 
are cleaning themfelves, as a cat or {quirrel does, 
without having their tails bent forward between 
their legs; and which may not improperly be call- 
ed their trencher. ee 
So far are the beaver from driving ftakes into 
the ground when building their houfes, that they 
lay moft of the wood crof{wife, and nearly hori- 
zontal, and without any other order than that of 
leaving a hollow or cavity in the middle; when 
any unneceflary branches project inward, they 
cut them off with their teeth, and throw them in 
among the reft, to prevent the mud from falling 
through the roof, It is a miftaken notion, that 
the wood-work is firft completed and then plai- 
ftered; for the whole of their houfes, as well as 
their dams, are from the foundation one mafs of 
wood and mud, mixed with ftones, if they can 
be procured. The mud is always taken from 
the edge of the bank, or the bottom of the creek 
or pond, near the door of the houfe ; and though 
their fore-paws are fo fmall, yet it is held clofe 
up between them, under their throat, that they . 
carry both mud and ftones; while they always 
drag the wood with their teeth. 
All their work is executed in the night ; and 
they are fo expeditious.in completing it, that in 
the courfe of one night I have known them to 
have 
