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which is easily done by attending to the motion of the 

 water, they block up the entrance with stakes of wood 



and then haul the beaver out of its hole, either by 

 if they can reach it, or with a large hook made for that 

 purpose, which is fastened to the end of a long stick 

 In this kind of hunting, every man has the sole right to 

 all the beavers caught by him in the holes or vaults; and as 

 this is a constant rule, each person takes care to mark such 

 as he discovers by sticking up a branch of a tree, by which 

 he may know them. All that are caught in the house are 

 the property of the person who finds it. The beaver is an 

 animal which cannot keep under water long at a time, so 

 that when their houses are broke open, and all their places 

 of retreat discovered, they have but one choice left, as it 

 may be called, either to be taken in their house or their 

 vaults ; in general they prefer the latter, for where there 

 is one beaver caught in the house, many thousands are 

 taken in the vaults in the banks. Sometimes they are 

 caught in nets, and in summer very frequently in traps. 



' In respect to the beaver dunging in their houses, as 

 some persons assert, it is quite wrong, as they always plunge 

 into water to do it. I am the better enabled to make this 

 assertion from having kept several of them till they became so 

 domesticated as to answer to their name and follow those to 

 whom they were accustomed in the same manner as a dog 

 would do, and they were as much pleased at being fondled as 

 any animal I ever saw. In cold weather they were kept in 

 my own sitting-room, where they were the constant com- 

 panions of the Indian women and children, and were so fond 

 of their company that when the Indians were absent for any 

 considerable time, the beaver discovered great signs of un- 

 easiness, and on their return showed equal marks of plea- 

 sure by fondling on them, crawling into their laps, lying 

 on their backs, sitting erect like a squirrel, and behaving 

 like children who see their parents but seldom. In general, 

 during the winter, they lived on the same food as the women 

 did, and were remarkably fond of rice and plum-pudding ; 

 they would eat partridges and fresh venison very freely, but 

 I never tried them with fish, though I have heard they will 

 at times prey on them. In fact there are few graminivorous 

 animals that may not be brought to be carnivorous.' 



Having thus presented the reader with a narrative of the 

 habits of the American beaver in a state of nature princi- 

 pally, we now proceed to give one descriptive of its manners 

 in captivity. The account is from the pen of Mr. Broderip, 

 whose pet the beaver was, and is interesting inasmuch as the 

 faculties displayed by the animal must, from its extreme 

 youth, have proceeded from unassisted instinct. 



'The animal,' says Broderip, 'arrived in this country 

 in the winter of 1825, very young, being small and woolly, 

 and without the covering of long hair which marks the 

 adult beaver. It was the sole survivor of five or six which 

 were shipped at the same time, and it was in a very pitiable 

 condition. Good treatment quickly restored it to health, 

 and kindness soon made it familiar. When called by its 

 name, 'Binny,' it generally answered with a little cry, and 

 came to its owner. The hearth-rug was its favourite haunt, 

 and thereon it would lie sti etched out, sometimes on its 

 back, sometimes on its side, and sometimes Hat on its belly, 

 but always near its master. The building instinct showed 

 itself immediately it was let out of its cage, and materials 

 were placed in its way, and this before it had been a week 

 in its new quarters. Its strength, even before it was half- 

 grown, was great. It would drag along a large sweeping- 

 brush, or a warming-pan, grasping the handle with its 

 teeth so that the load came over its shoulder, and advancing 

 in an oblique direction till it arrived at the point where it 

 wished to place it. The long and larga materials were 

 always taken first, and two of the longest were generally 

 laid crosswise, with one of the ends of each touching the 

 wall, and the other ends projecting out into the room. The 

 area formed by the cross brushes and the wall he would fill 

 icp with hand-brushes, rush basket*!, books, boots, sticks, 

 cloths, dried turf, or any thing portable. As the work grew 

 high, he supported himself on his tail, which propped him 

 up admirably, and he would often, after laying on one of 

 his building materials, sit up over against it, appearing to 

 rk, or, as the country people say, 'judge it.' 

 This pause was sometimes followed by changing the position 

 of the material 'judged,' and sometimes it was left in its 

 place. After he had piled up his materials in one part of 

 the room (for he generally chose the same place), he pro- 

 ceeded to wall up the space between the feet of a chest of 



drawers which stood at a little distance from it, high enough 

 on its legs to make the bottom a roof for him, using for this 

 purpose dried turf and sticks, which he laid very even, and 

 filling up the interstices with bits of coal, hay, cloth, or any 

 thing he could pick up. This last place he seemed to ap- 

 propriate for his dwelling ; the former work seemed to be 

 intended for a dam. When he had walled up the space 

 between the feet of the chest of drawers, he proceeded to 

 carry in sticks, cloths, hay, cotton, and to make a nest ; and 

 when he had done he would sit up under the drawers and 

 comb himself with the nails of his hind feet. In this 

 operation, that which appeared at first a mal-formation was 

 shown to be a beautiful adaptation to the necessities of the 

 animal. . The huge, webbed, hind feet of the beaver turn 

 in so as to give the appearance of deformity ; but if the toes 

 were straight instead of being incurved, the animal couid 

 not use them for the purpose of keeping its fur in order 

 and cleansing it from dirt and moisture. 



' Binny generally carried small and light articles between 

 his right fore-leg and his chin, walking on the other three 

 legs ; and large masses, which he could not grasp readily 

 with his teeth, he pushed forwards leaning against them 

 with his right fore-paw and his chin. He never carried any 

 thing on his tail, which he liked to dip in water, but he was 

 not fond of plunging in the whole of his body. If his tail 

 was kept moist he never cared to drink ; but if it was kept 

 dry it became hot, and the animal appeared distressed and 

 would drink a great deal. It is not impossible that the tztil 

 may have the power of absorbing water, like the skin of 

 frogs, though it must be owned that tlje scaly integument 

 which invests that member has not much of the character 

 which generally belongs to absorbing surfaces. 



' Bread, and bread and milk and sugar, formed the prin- 

 cipal part of Binny 's food ; but he was very fond of succu- 

 lent fruits and roots. He was a most entertaining creature, 

 and some highly comic scenes occurred between the worthy 

 but slow beaver and a light and airy macauco that was kept 

 in the same apartment.' This narrative, with some addi- 

 .ions, appeared in The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoo- 

 logical Society, to whose editor it was given by the author. 

 The work is full of useful and interesting information, and 

 the cuts are beautifully executed. 



Little need be said of the value of the fur of the beaver in 

 commerce, a value greatly heightened by the proclamation 

 of Charles I. in 1638, expressly prohibiting the use of any 

 naterials except beaver-stuff or beaver-wool in the manu- 

 acture of hats, and forbidding the making of the hats called 

 demi-castors," unless for exportation. This proclamation 

 was an almost exterminating death-warrant to the poor 

 leavers. They were speedily swept away from the more 

 southern colonies, and the traffic became, for the most part, 

 confined to Canada and Hudson's Bay. The havoc made 

 among them, even at that period, may be imagined by an 

 nspection of the imports of 1743. In that year the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company offered for sale 26,750 beaver-skins, 

 and, in the same year, 127,080 were imported into Rochelle. 

 These, it will be remembered, are only the legal returns, 

 making no allowance for smuggling. In 1788 upwards of 

 170,000 were exported from Canada, and in 1808 126,927 

 were sent from Quebec alone to this country. The value 

 of these last has been estimated at 118,994^. Is. 3d. sterling, 

 at an average of 18s. 9rf. for each skin. These numbers, as 

 might be expected, could not be kept up without total exter- 

 nination ; and we find, accordingly, that in 1827 the im- 

 wrtation into London from a fur country of more than four 

 :imes the extent of that which was occupied in 1743 (as 

 Dr. Richardson has observed) was but little beyond 50,000. 

 AVhen the reader looks at this statement, and considers the 

 )opulation of London alone, he will probably inquire of 

 vhat materials beaver-hats are made, so totally inadequate 

 o its wants must such an importation be, allowing for the 

 most complete adulteration. There is, however, another 

 odent animal Myopotamus Bonariensis (Mus Coypus, 

 jtm.) [see COYPU] now (spring of 1835) to be seen in 

 he gardens of the Zoological Society in the Regent's Park, 

 whose skins, under the name of Neutria skins, are imported 

 n great numbers from South America for the purpose of 

 nat-making ; nor are they the only animals that contribute 

 ;o the manufacture of the so-called beaver hats. 



Such a reduction as that above stated appears to have 

 startled the Hudson's Bay Company, who took measures 

 or insuring an adequate supply of beaver fur. But not- 

 withstanding their endeavours, and the care of the Iroquois, 



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