234 
1771. 
eae 
December, 
A JOURNEY TO THE 
have collected as much mud at their houfes as to 
have amounted to fome thoufands of their little 
handfuls; and when any mixture of grafs or ftraw _ 
has appeared in it, it has been, moft affuredly, 
mere chance, owing to the nature of the ground | 
from which they had taken it. As to their de- — 
fignedly making a compofition for that purpofe, — 
it is entirely void of truth. | 
It isa great piece of policy in thofe animals, to | 
cover, or plaifter, as it is ufually called, the out- 
fide of their houfes every fall with frefh mud, 
and as late as poflible in the Autumn, even when 
the froft becomes pretty fevere ; as by this means | 
it foon freezes as hard as a ftone, and prevents 
their common enemy, the quiquehatch, from dif- — 
turbing them during the Winter. And as they — 
are frequently feen to walk over their work, and | 
fometimes to give a flap with their tail, particular- 
ly when plunging into the water, this has, with: 
out doubt, given rife to the vulgar opinion that 
they ufe their tails as a trowel, with which they, 
plaifter their houfes ; whereas that flapping of the 
tail is no more than a cuftom, which they always 
preferve, even when they become tame and do- 
meftic, and more particularly fo when they are 
ftartled. 
Their food chiefly confifts of a large root, 
fomething refembling a cabbage-ftalk, which 
grows at the bottom of the lakes and rivers. 
They eat alfo the bark of trees, particularly that 
of the poplar, birch, and willow; but the ice 
pre- 
