or built around and over, which is afterwards 

 enlarged into a room. 



Houses that are built in a pond usually stand 

 in three or four feet of water. The foundation is 

 laid on the bottom of the pond, of the size in- 

 tended for the house, and built up a solid mass 

 to a few inches above water-level. This island- 

 like foundation is covered with a crude hemi- 

 sphere or dome-shaped house, the central portion 

 of the foundation forming the floor of the low- 

 vaulted room which is enclosed by the thick 

 house-walls. In building the house the beaver 

 provide a temporary support for the combined 

 roof and walls by piling in the centre of the floor 

 a two-foot mound of mud. Over this is placed a 

 somewhat flattened tepee- or cone-shaped frame 

 of sticks and small poles. These stand on the 

 outer part of the foundation and lean inward 

 with upper ends meeting against and above the 

 temporary support. The beaver then cover this 

 framework with two or three feet of mud, brush, 

 and turf, and thus make the walls and the roof 

 of the house. When the outer part of the house 

 is completed, they dig an inclined passageway, 



121 



