HUNTING THE BEAVER. 379 



should be hunted in a manner tending so evidently .o the extermi- 

 nation of the species, when a little care and management on the 

 part of those interested, might prevent unnecessary destruction, 

 and increase the sources of their revenue. The old beavers are 

 frequently killed within a short time of their littering season, and 

 with every such death from three to six are destroyed. The 

 young are often killed -before they have attained half their growth 

 and value, and of necessity long before they have contributed to 

 the continuance of their species. 



In a few years, comparatively speaking, the beaver has been 

 exterminated in all the Atlantic and in the western states, as far 

 as the middle and upper waters of the Missouri ; while in the 

 Hudson's Bay possessions they are becoming annually more 

 scarce, and the race will eventually be extinguished throughout 

 the whole continent. A few individuals may, for a time, elude the 

 immediate violence of persecution, and like the degraded descen- 

 dants of the aboriginals of our soil, be occasionally exhibited as 

 meJancholy mementos of the tribes long previously whelmed in 

 the fathomless gulf of avarice. 



The Indians inhabiting the countries watered by the tributaries 

 of the Missouri and Mississippi, take the beavers principally by 

 trapping, and are generally supplied with steel-traps by the 

 traders, who do not sell, but lend or hire them, in order to keep 

 the Indians dependent upon themselves, and also to lay claim to the 

 furs which they may procure. The name of the trader being 

 stamped on the trap, it is equal to a certificate of enlistment, and 

 indicates, when an Indian carries his furs to another trading estab- 

 lishment, that the individual wishes to avoid the payment of his 

 debts. The business of trapping requires great experience and 

 caution, as the senses of the beaver are very keen, and enable him 

 to detect the recent presence of the hunter by the slightest traces. 

 It is necessary that the hands should be washed clean before the 

 trap is handled and baited, and that every precaution should be 

 employed to elude the vigilance of the animal. 



The bait which is used to entice the beavers is prepared from 

 the substance called castor (caalorcum,j obtained from the glon- 



