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portunities rbr forming a right judgment, has given it the 

 preference, we proceed to lay it before our readers in Hearne's 

 own simple language : 



The beaver being so plentiful, the attention of ray 

 panions was chit-By engaged on them, as they not only fur- 

 nished ilcliri<>\is food, lmt their skins proved a valuable 

 i, being a principal article of trade as well as a 

 serviceable one for clothing. The situation of the bcaver- 

 . : ii- Where the beavers are numerous they 

 re found to inhabit lakes, ponds, and rivers, as well as 

 narrow creeks which connect the numerous lakes with 

 which this country abounds: but the two latter are 

 rally chosen by them when the depth of water and other 

 circumstances are suitable, as they have then the advantage 

 of a current to convey wood and other necessaries to their 

 habitations, and because, in general, they are more difficult 

 to be taken than those that are built in standing water. 

 They always choose those parts that have such a depth of 

 water as Will resist the frost in winter, and prevent it from 

 freezing to the bottom. The beavers that build their houses 

 in small rivers, or creeks, in which water is liable to be 

 drained off when the back supplies, are dried up by the frost, 

 are wonderfully taught by instinct to provide against that 

 evil by making a dam quite across the river, at a convenient 

 distance from their houses. The beaver-dams differ in 

 shape according to the nature of the place in which they 

 are built. If the water in the river, or creek, have but little 

 motion, the dam is almost straight ; but when the current is 

 more rapid, it is always made with a considerable curve, 

 convex toward the stream. The materials made use of are 

 drift-wood, green willows, birch, and poplars if they can be 

 got ; also, mud and stones intermixed in such a manner as 

 roust evidently contribute to the strength of the dam; but 

 there is no other order or method observed in the dams, 

 except that of the work being carried on with a regular 

 sweep, and all the parts being made of equal strength. In 

 places which have been Ion;; frequented by beavers undis- 

 turbed, their dams, by frequent repairing, become a solid 

 bank, capable of resisting a great force both of water and 

 ice ; and as the willow, poplar, and birch generally take root 

 and shoot up, they by degrees form a kind of regular 

 planted hedge, which I have seen in some places so tall that 

 birds have built their nests among the branches. 



' The beaver-houses are built of the same materials as 

 their dams, and are always proportioned in size to the 

 number of inhabitants, which seldom exceeds four old and 

 six or eight young ones ; though, by chance, I have seen 

 above double the number. Instead of order or regulation 

 being observed in rearing their houses, they are of a much 

 ruder structure than their dams ; for, notwithstanding the 

 sagacity of these animals, it has never been observed that 

 they aim at any other convenience in their houses than to 

 have a dry place to lie on ; and there they usually eat their 

 victuals, which they occasionally take out of the water. It 

 frequently happens that some of the large houses are found 

 to have one or more partitions, if they deserve that appella- 

 tion, but it is no more than a part of the main building left 

 by the sagacity of the beaver to support the roof. On such 

 occasions it is common for those different apartments, as 

 some are plsased to call them, to have no communication 

 with each other but by water ; so that, in fact, they may be 

 called double or treble houses, rather than different apart- 

 ments of the same house. I have seen a large beaver-house 

 built in a small island that had near a dozen apartments 

 under one roof; and, two or three of these only exccpted, 

 none of them had any communication with each other but 

 by water. As there were beavers enough to inhabit each 

 apartment, it is more than probable that each family knew 

 their own, and always entered at their own doors, without 

 any further connexion with their neighbours than a friendly 

 intercourse, and to join their united labours in erecting their 

 separate habitations, and building their dams where re- 

 quired. Travellers who assert that the beavers have two 

 doors to their houses, one on the land side and the other 

 next the water, seem to be less acquainted with theso ani- 

 mal* than others who assign them an elegant suite of.apart- 

 ments. Such a construction would render their houses of 

 DO use, either to protect them from their enemies, or guard 

 tVm against the extreme cold of winter. 



So far are the beavers from driving stakes into the 

 ground when building their houses, that they lay most of 

 toe wood crosswise, and nearly horizontal, and without any 

 other order than that of leaving a hollow or cavity in the 



middle. When any unnecessary branches project inward 

 they cut them off with their teeth, and throw them ill among 

 the rest, to prevent the mud from falling through the TOOL 

 It is a mistaken notion that the wood-work i-. fust ivmp'.eti .1 

 and then plastered ; for the whole of their houses, as well 

 as their dams, arc, from the foundation, one mass of mud 

 and wood mixed with stones, it' they ran be pn-iirrd. The 

 mud is always taken from the edge of the bank, or the 

 .1 of the creek or pond near the door of the house ; and 

 : ; their lore paws are SO small, vet it is held close up 

 between them under their throat: thus they earn both 

 mud and stones, while they always drag the wood with their 

 t<cih. All their work U executed in the night, and they 

 are so expeditious that, in the course of one night, 1 ha\e 

 known them to have collected as much as amounted to sumo 

 thousands of their little handsful. It is a great piece of 

 policy in these animals to cover the outside of their houses 

 every fall with fresh mud, and as late as possible in the 

 autumn, even when the frost becomes pretty severe, as by 

 this means it soon freezes as hard as a stone, and prevents 

 their common enemy, the wolverene, from disturbing them 

 during the winter; and as they arc frequently seen to walk 

 over their work, and sometimes to give a tlapwith their 

 tail, particularly when plunging into the water, this has, 

 without doubt, given rise to the vulgar opinion that they 

 used then- tails as a trowel, with which they plaster their 

 houses; whereas that flapping of the tail is no more than a 

 custom which they always preserve, even when they become 

 tame and domestic, and more particularly so when they are 

 startled. 



' Their food consists of a large root, something resembling 

 a cabbage-stalk,* which grows at the bottom of the lakes 

 and rivers. They also eat the bark of trees, particularly 

 those of the poplar, birch, and willow ; but the ice pre\ i 

 them from getting to the land in the winter, they have not 

 any barks to feed on in that season, except that of such 

 sticks as they cut down in summer, and throw into the v, 

 opposito the doors of their houses : and as they generally 

 eat a great deal, the roots above-mentioned constitute a prin- 

 cipal part of their food during the winter. In summer they 

 vary their diet, by eating various kinds of herbage, and such 

 berries as grow near their haunts during that season. \Ylu u 

 the ice breaks up in the spring the heavers always leave 

 their houses, and rove about until a little before the fall of 

 the leaf, when they return again to their old habitations, 

 and lay in their winter stock of wood. They seldom begin 

 to repair their houses till the frost commences, and never 

 finish the outer coat till the cold is pretty severe, as hath 

 been already mentioned. When they erect a new habitation 

 they bu!> in Jelling the wood early in the summer, but seldom 

 begin to build until the middle or latter end of August, and 

 never complete it till the cold weather be set in. 



' Persons who attempt to take beaver in winter should be 

 thoroughly acquainted with their manner of life, otherwise 

 they will have endless trouble to effect their purpose, be- 

 cause they have always a number of holes in the banks, 

 which serve them as places of retreat when any injury is 

 offered to their houses, and in general it is in those holes 

 that they are taken. When the beavers which are situated 

 in a small river or creek are to be taken, the Indians some- 

 times find it necessary to stake the river across, to prevent 

 them from passing ; after which they endeavour to find out 

 all their holes or places of retreat m the banks. This re- 

 quires much practice and experience to accomplish, and is 

 performed in the following manner: every man being 

 furnished with an ice-chisel, lashes it to the end of a small 

 staff about four or five feet long; he then walks aloiij; the. 

 edge of the banks, and keeps knocking his chisel against 

 the ice. Those who are acquainted with that kind of work 

 well know by the sound of the ice when they are opposite 

 to any of the beavers' holes or vaults. As soon as they 

 suspect any, they cut a hole through the ice big enough to 

 admit an old beaver, and in this manner proceed till they 

 have found out all their places of retreat, or at least as 

 many of them as possible. While the principal men are 

 thus employed, some of the understrappers and the women 

 are busy in breaking open the house, which at limes is no 

 easy task, for I have frequently known these houses to he 

 five or six feet thick, and one, in particular, was more than 

 eitfht feet thick in the crown. When the beavers find that 

 their habitations are invaded, they lly to their holes in the 

 banks for shelter ; and on being perceived by the Indians, 

 A'ufAor .Vow, tccaidinj la Pr. Kidwrdjcu ; a kiud of witi-lUy. 



