380 HUNTING ADVENTURES. 



dulous pouches of the male* animal, which contain sometime* 

 from two to three ounces. This substance is called by tht> hunters 

 bark stone, and is squeezed gently into an open mouthed phial. 



The contents of five or six of these castor bags are mixed 

 with a nutmeg, twelve or fifteen cloves, and thirty grains of cinna- 

 mon, in fine powder, and then the whole is stirred up with as 

 much whiskey as will give it the consistency of mustard prepared 

 for the table. This mixture must be kept closely corked up, and 

 in four or five days the odor becomes more powerful, with care it 

 may be preserved for months without injury. Various other 

 strong aromatics are sometimes used to increase the pungency of 

 the odor. Some of this preparation smeared upon the bits of wood 

 with which the traps are baited, will entice the beaver from a 

 great distance. 



The castor, whose odor is similar to tanner's ooze, gets the 

 name of bark-stone from its resemblance to finely powdered bark. 

 The sacks containing it are about two inches in length. Behind 

 these, and between the skin and root of the tail, are found two 

 other oval cysts, lying together, which contain a pure strong o;. 

 of a rancid smell. 



During the winter season the beaver becomes very fat, and its 

 flesh is esteemed by the hunters to be excellent food. But those 

 occasionally caught in the summer are very thin, and unfit for the 

 table. They lead so wandering a life at this season, and are so 

 much exhausted by the collection of materials for building, or the 

 winter's stock of provision, as well as by suckling their young, as 

 to be generally at that time in a very poor condition. Their fur 

 during the sun^mer is of little value, and it is only in winter that 

 it is to be obtained in that state which renders it so desirable to the 

 fur traders. 



The Opossum, is one of the most common animals within our bor- 

 ders, and is annually killed or captured in large numbers. Yet it is 

 still considered as a sort of anomaly among animals, and the pecu- 

 liarities of its sexual intercourse, gestation and parturition, are to 

 this day veiled in obscurity. The opossum has a number of 



Juxta preputium utroque latero existunU 



