BEAVERS. ] 45 



all that vast region between the summit of the 

 Alleghanies and the Rocky Mountains. But such is 

 not the case; his prospect is limited hy muddy lands, 

 and the varied sweep of apparently interminable 

 forests. This, then, is the favourite resort of Beavers, 

 and here they pasture in safety, the mosquitoes and 

 the nettles are their natural defenders, the one is to 

 them a guard, the other a bulwark, and here they 

 erect their quiet habitations, governed by laws con- 

 cerning which we know little, except in their effects. 

 They exhibit order and regularity, well governed 

 houses, and mutual aid and protection. Beavers 

 seem placed by their Creator amid the wildest 

 solitudes of nature, in order to show forth the ad- 

 vantages which naturally result from rule and sub- 

 ordination, from a state of things in which every 

 one knows his place, and where the will of him 

 who rules is the will of those who obey. Little has 

 transpired concerning the interior of their commu- 

 nity, for they flourish most in such lone places as 

 are far away from the investigation of enlightened 

 men ; but travellers who have seen their villages 

 relate that they work in concert ; that while one 

 party cuts down the timber that is necessary for the 

 construction of their houses and the making of their 

 dykes, others carry it away, and lay it in order for 

 another set of workmen who drive in the stakes, and 

 collect the clay which they use instead of mortar. 

 The utmost harmony, too, is said to prevail in each 

 habitation. The master exercises rule, but it is a 

 rule of love, which has for its object the comfort 

 and well-being of every one beneath him. The 

 female knows her place, and rests in quiet con- 



i* 



