356 THE TRAPPER. 



might readily mistake the former for the latter. I will 

 try and describe one that I found on the head of the 

 Metapedia. 



The stream was some 15 or 20 feet in width, with a 



considerable fall. Four dams had been constructed at 



intervals of about 100 yards. The pond formed by the 



upper dam but one was probably about an acre in extent, 



of a depth of 8 feet in the centre, shoaling off towards the 



edges. The place was thickly wooded ; but, as it was an 



old colony, the trees in the pond had all been killed by 



the water ; some remained standing, others had fallen and 



lay on the surface. The dam was semicircular, convex to 



the stream, and about 150 yards in length ; in an irregular 



way it surrounded the upper half of the pond. The spot 



for building this dam had been chosen, as is invariably 



the case, with remarkable judgment ; and all natural 



features, such as little islands, rocks, stumps of trees, &c., 



had been turned to good account. The centre of the dam 



was about 5 feet in height, and 8 or 10 feet in width at the 



base, and so compact that it took two men with axes the 



greater part of an hour to cut an aperture through it 



6 feet wide. The camp was situated near the centre of 



the pond, on the original bank of the stream. It was 



about the size and shape of an ordinary haystack, a little 



flattened down ; rather more than two-thirds showed above 



the water (about 8 feet). Internally it contained one 



large circular apartment, about 6 feet 6 inches in 



diameter; the roof, which was arched or dome-shaped, 



being 2 feet 3 or 4 inches in the centre, and gradually 



sloping downwards to the edge. The floor was 10 inches 



above water-mark, and contained four beds made of chips 



