FUR AXIMALS. 461 



the consequences. I accepted their interpretation of our 

 ill-luck, for that was the last time I visited the place, as my 

 duties carried me elsewhere; yet I do not now regret my 

 experience on that lonely isle, which is sacred alone to wa- 

 ter-fowl and seals, the heavy clashing of waves and crags, 

 and the moaning or the screaming of the wind. 



The beaver is becoming abundant in some portions of 

 the country, especially in the wooded regions bordering 

 the Pacific Ocean, as very little trapping is done there, 

 owing to the cheapness of the fur, and the fact that people 

 have a more settled business; but it is decreasing in Brit- 

 ish America, owing to the numbers captured annually in 

 traps. 



Another little creature found in the North-west, though 

 not strictly a fur animal, deserves mention, owing to its 

 unique position in the animal world. This species, which 

 is known to the Indians of the North-west coast by the 

 names of sewellel and showtl, is one of the most unique 

 specimens of the animal kingdom. It is certainly one of 

 the least known of the mammals of America, owing to its 

 scarcity, peculiar habits, and the want of opportunities to 

 study its characteristics ; as its habitat is confined to a few 

 isolated and barren sections of the North-west, little fre- 

 quented by the wandering tourist, and rarely indeed by 

 the scientific naturalist. 



Its geographical range is limited, being bounded on the 

 south by Oregon, and on the north by British Columbia, 

 an area embracing probably some eight degrees of latitude; 

 while its eastward wandering is checked by the high, roll- 

 ing plateaux that lie directly east of the Cascade Range. 

 Unlike most of the quadrupeds of the North-west, it crosses 

 this towering range ; and here it differs widely from other 

 mammals, for that chain is the most arbitrary on the conti- 

 nent in its separation of animal life; and in this feature is, 

 in all probability, equalled by no other mountains on the 

 globe except the Himalayas. It has not yet been found in 

 the Rocky Mountains, nor, so far as I can learn, east of 

 the Blue Ridge, which runs in a general south-westerly 



