THE ARRANGEMENTS OF PROYIDENCE. 157 



They are about three feet in length, and the 

 tail, which is covered with scales, is eleven 

 inches long. Their tail is of great use to them, 

 serving as a rudder when swimming in the 

 water, and also as a trowel in plastering their 

 habitations. In the month of June or July they 

 assemble together to the amount of two or three 

 hundred. They now begin to build an habita- 

 tion, and their mode of proceeding is not only 

 curious but wonderful, and shows what an ex- 

 traordinary instinct has been implanted in them 

 by a Divine Creator. They select some river 

 which is subject to risings and fallings of the 

 water. Here they build a bank across from one 

 side to the other, often from eighty to a hundred 

 feet in length, by ten or twelve feet broad. If 

 they find on the margin of the river a large 

 tree, they begin by cutting it down, in order to 

 make the foundation of their dam. This is done 

 by gnawing the tree through with their sharp 

 front teeth, and in such a way that it is made to 

 fall where they want it. They next cut the 

 branches from the trunk to make it lie level. 

 Some of the beavers then cut down smaller 

 trees in the neighbourhood, about the size of a 



