NO.1405. MA3fMALS OF NORTHWEST TERRITORIES— MACFARLANE. 743 



ones. A Chipewvan himter also assured lue that he once found as 

 many as nine well-formed embryos in the uterus of a female killed by 

 him on the lower Peace Riyer. Both tribes state that the female bea- 

 ver seldom or never has young before the third year and that there 

 are only one or two cubs at tirst, l)ut more the following seasons. 

 After attaining a certain stage in life the birth rate begins to decline. 

 The adult beaver sul^sists on various roots, poplar bark, green willows, 

 birch, and other deciduous leaves. The male assists in providing food 

 for the young in the earlier stage of their existence. When neces- 

 sary, this intelligent animal erects new, and always renovates old, 

 lodges and dams in the autumn. One or two kindred families fre- 

 quently live together, and their progeny continue for upward of two 

 years with their parents, after which they are usually expected to mate 

 and provide for themselves. The males often tight tiercely during the 

 rutting season. It is not an uncommon experience for hunters to tind 

 one or more beavers dead of disease in their houses or "washes." 

 Such animals are seldom other than in good condition, but the Indians 

 will not eat the meat except they be verging on starvation. In this 

 connection, Mr. G. Deschambeault writes that "when beaver are found 

 dead in their 'wash' they are generally (mouth and nostrils) infested 

 by numerous small white worms. Low water also causes the death of 

 beaver some winters in their lodges." Some old veteran males become 

 very large and heavy. The fiesh of the beaver, except when very 

 lean, is very palatable and easy of digestion, and is much relished by 

 the natives and northern resident whites who have partaken thereof. 

 If let alone, or not nuich disturbed by hunting, the beaver will rap- 

 idly increase in numbers. In proof of this statement, I would mention 

 that many extensive tracts of country in which they had become scarce 

 or had wholly or almost entirely disappeared (as a result of the keen 

 and very costly rivalry in trade which had for many years existed 

 between the Northwest Company of Montreal and the Hudson's Bay 

 Company of England previous to their coalition in 1821, it was uncer- 

 tain for some time '"which of them lost most money — neither of them 

 gained money," while the general demoralization of Indians and 

 whites was very lamentable) they afterwards recovered under the 

 fostering policy of protection promptly inaugurated and intelligently 

 pursued by the now united Fur Trading and Governing Corporation. 

 For more than a decade subsequent to 1821, each beaver district in 

 the chartered and licensed territories of the Hudson's Ba}' Company 

 was annually restricted to the collection of a certain fixed number of 

 beaver, which course eventually proved of nuich benefit to all con- 

 cerned. By this means the Y)erpetuation of the beaver was insured in sec- 

 tions where reckless slaughter had almost exterminated it, while the 

 resulting expansion in more forward localities naturally followed. With 



