240 HUNTING EXCURSION. 



animal — using his tail as a substitute for hands. As they fall one after 

 another, he plunges in and guides them to their destination, where they 

 are safely moored for future use. 



The beaver possesses great strength in his tail, which is twelve or fif- 

 teen inches long, four broad, and a half inch thick. This part of the ani- 

 mal is highly esteemed by trappers, and assimilates a fish in taste, though 

 it is far superior to any of the finny tribe. 



His teeth are very sharp, (incisors,) two inches or more in length, per- 

 fectly round and of a uniform size, with the exception of the cutting 

 extremities, which are gouge-like, about the eighth of an inch in diameter, 

 and nearly in the shape of a semicircle. 



Beaver lodges are commonly constructed in holes carefully excavated in 

 the banks of streams, in such a manner that the entrances are entirely 

 covered by water. It is very rarely they build in any other manner, not- 

 withstanding most writers upon this subject assert the contrary. 



The female usually produces two, and sometimes three, at a birth, but 

 seldom rears more than one ; — first destroying the least likely, she bestows 

 much attention upon her favorite offspring, and nurses it with great tender- 

 ness. 



The character and habits of this curious animal, in other respects, have 

 probably met the reader's eye through other sources, so that a more ex- 

 tended notice under this head would be unnecssary. 



Having procured a fresh supply of ammunition from Fort Lancaster, 

 some two weeks succeeding our arrival at this place I visited the moun- 

 tains on a hunting excursion, in company with a single voyageur. 



Our course lead up Vasque's creek for fifteen or twenty miles, to a ridge 

 of high table land, through which we passed, by a circuitous route, and 

 were ushered into a broad and beautiful valley, bounded upon the east by 

 the ridge before named, and on the west by a lofty mountain chain. 



Vasque's creek is well timbered, and has a rich bottom, averaging one 

 mile in breadth, and is skirted by a slightly undulating prairie, quite pro- 

 ductive in various kinds of grasses. 



This creek is from eight to ten yards wide, and affords a body of water 

 more than a foot in depth. It heads in the main chain of the moun 

 tains, where it claims a valley of considerable extent, enclosed upon al 

 sides by lofty ridges that preclude the possibility of approach, except a 

 two points marking an Indian pass to the waters of Grand river. 



From thence it winds its way between long defiles of mountains, tha' 

 close in abruptly upon its very water's edge, till it finally intersects tht 

 valley first spoken of, and forces itself through the high ridge of table land 

 into the open prairie. 



Finding an abundance of deer in the vicinity, we struck camp and made 

 it our hunting-ground for the time being. Our efforts were very success- 

 ful, and seldom a favorable day passed without giving us the skins and 

 choice parts of two or more deer. 



Nothing occurred to mar our enjoyment for the first two or three weeks, 

 at which time my comrade, having unfortunately broken his gun-lock, was 



