BEAVER. 173 



together, A simple taste, moderate appetites, and an aver- 

 sion to blood and carnage, render them destitute of the ideas 

 of rapine and war. Friends to each other, if they have any 

 foreign enemies, they know how to avoid them. When dan- 

 ger approaches, they advertise one another, by striking their 

 broad tail on the surface of the water, the noise of which is 

 heard at a great distance, and resounds through all the 

 vaults of their habitations. Each individual, upon these oc- 

 casions, consults his own safety ; some plunge into the water ; 

 others conceal themselves within their walls, which can be 

 penetrated only by the fire of heaven, or the steel of man, 

 and which no animal will attempt either to open or to over- 

 turn. These retreats are not only safe, but neat and commo- 

 dious. The floors are spread over with verdure ; the branches 

 of the box and of the fir serve them for carpets, upon which 

 they permit not the smallest dirtiness. The window that 

 faces the water answers for a balcony to receive the fresh 

 air, and for the purpose of bathing. During the greater part 

 of the day, the beavers sit on end, with their head and the 

 anterior parts of their body elevated, and their posterior parts 

 sunk in the water. The aperture of this window is sufficiently 

 raised to prevent its being stopped up with the ice, which, 

 in the beaver climates, is often two or three feet thick. When 

 this accident happens, they slope the sole of the window, 

 cut obliquely the stakes which support it, and thus open a 

 communication with the unfrozen water. They often swim 

 a long way under the ice. In September, the beavers collect 

 their provisions of bark and of wood. Till the end of winter, 

 they remain in their cabins, enjoy th fruits of their labors, 

 and taste the sweets of domestic happiness. This is their 

 time of repose. In the spring they separate; the males 

 retire into the country, to enjoy the pleasures and fruits of 

 spring. They return occasionally, however, to their cabins ; 

 but dwell there no more. The females continue in the 

 cabins, and are occupied in nursing, protecting, and rearing 

 their young, which in a few weeks are in a condition to fol- 

 low their dams. The beavers assemble not again till autumn, 

 unless their banks or cabins be injured by inundations ; for, 

 when accidents of this kind happen, they suddenly collect 

 their forces, and repair the breaches that have been made. 



This account of the society and operations of beavers, how- 

 ever marvellous it may appear, has been established and con- 

 firmed by so many credible eye-witnesses, that it is impossible 

 to doubt of its reality. 

 15* 



