120 NATURAL AND CIVIL 



Not H I N G can exceed the peace and reguiaritt/^ 

 v.liich prevails in the families, and through the 

 "vvhole commonnealth of these animals. No 

 discord or contention ever appears in any of 

 their families. Every beaver knows his own 

 apartment, and store iiouse ; and there is no 

 pilfering or robbing from one another. The 

 male and the female are mutually attached to, 

 never prove unfriendly, or desert one another. 

 Their provisions are collected, and expended, 

 without any dissention. Each knows its ov/n 

 family, business, and property ; and they are 

 never seen to injure, oppose, or interfere with 

 one another, The same order and tranquility 

 prevail, through the commonwealth. Different 

 societies of beavers, never make war upon one 

 another, or upon any other animals. When 

 they are attacked by their enemies, they instant-. 

 ly plunge into the water, to escape their pur^ 

 suit : And when they cannot escape, they fall 

 an easy sacrifice. 



In the arts necessarx'- for their safetv, the 

 beavers rise to great eminence. The situation, 

 direction, form, solidity, beauty, and durability 

 of their dams, are equal to any thing of the kind, 

 which has ever been performed by man. They 

 always form a right judgment, Avhich way the 

 tree will fall : And when it is neaily cut dowTi, 

 they appoint one of their number, to give no. 

 tice by a stroke of his tail, when it begins to 

 fall. With their tails, they measure the lengths 

 of their dams, of the stakes they are to use, of 

 a breach that is made in their works, and of tlie 

 length of the timber that is necessary to repair 

 ^t, \Vhen an enemy approaches tlieir domin-f 



