THE BEAVER. 



85 



They ra])idly fell a tree the shaft of which is as thick 

 or thicker than a man's thigh, or from six to ten inches 

 in diameter ; and places of more than three acres in front 

 of the river and one in width have been seen with the 

 timber all felled by these animals, though many of the 

 trees were as thick as a man's body. 



The beaver does not attain its full growth before three 

 years, but it breeds before that time. It produces from 

 two to six at a birth. The flesh of this animal is es- 

 teemed by the Canadian hunters, and by the natives, as 



49. — Beaver. 



a great delicacy, and we need not say how valuable its 

 fur is as an article of commerce. It is from certain 

 glandular sacs in the beaver that the substance called 

 castor, or castoreum, used in medicine, is obtained, and 

 which (procured from the European variety) was well 

 known to the ancients. 



E 3 



