172 HABITATIONS OF ANIMALS. 



oval, and they vary in size from four or five to eight or ten 

 feet in diameter. Some of them consist of three or four sto- 

 ries. Their walls are about two feet thick, and are raised 

 perpendicularly upon planks, or plain stakes, which serve 

 both for foundations and floors to their houses. When they 

 consist of but one story, they rise perpendicularly a few feet 

 only, afterwards assume a curved form, and terminate in a 

 dome or vault, which answers the purpose of a roof. They 

 are built with amazing solidity, and neatly plastered with a 

 kind of stucco both within and without. In the application 

 of this mortar the tails of the beavers serve for trowels, arid 

 their feet for plashing. Their houses are impenetrable to 

 rain, and resist the most impetuous winds. In their construc- 

 tion, they employ different materials, as wood, stone, and a 

 kind of sandy earth, which is not liable to be dissolved in 

 water. The wood they use is generally of the light and ten- 

 der kinds, as alders, poplars, and willows, which commonly 

 grow on the banks of rivers, and are more easily barked, cut, 

 and transported, than the heavier and more solid species of 

 timber. They always begin the operation of cutting trees at 

 a foot or a foot and a half above the ground. They labor 

 in a sitting posture; and, beside the convenience of this 

 posture, they enjoy the pleasure of gnawing perpetually the 

 bark and wood, which are their favorite food. Of these pro- 

 visions they lay up ample stores in their cabins to support 

 them during the winter. Each cabin has its own magazine, 

 which is proportioned to the number of its inhabitants, who 

 have all a common right to the store, and never pillage their 

 neighbors. Some villages are composed of twenty or 

 twenty-five cabins. But these large establishments are not 

 frequent; and the common republics seldom exceed ten or 

 twelve families, while each have their own quarter of the 

 village, their own magazine, and their separate habitation. 

 The smallest cabins contain two, four, or six, and the largest 

 eighteen, twenty, and sometimes thirty beavers. As to males 

 and females, they are almost always equally paired. Upon a 

 moderate computation, therefore, the society is often com- 

 posed of ii hundred and fifty or two hundred, who all, at first, 

 labor jointly in raising the great public building, and after- 

 wards, in select tribes or companies, in making particular 

 habitations. In this society, however numerous, an universal 

 peace is maintained. Their union is cemented by common 

 labors; and it is perpetuated by mutual conveniency, and 

 the abundance of provisions which they amass and consume 



