COMMON BEAVER. 35 



larly upon planks, or plain stakes, which serve 

 both for foundations and floors to their houses. 

 When they consist of but one story, the walls 

 rise perpendicularly only a few feet, afterwards 

 assume a curved form, and terminate in a dome 

 or vault, which serves them for a roof. They are 

 . built with amazing solidity, and neatly plastered 

 both without and within. They are impenetra- 

 ble to rain, and resist the most impetuous winds. 

 The partitions are covered with a kind of stucco, 

 as nicely plastered as if it had been executed by 

 the hand of man. In the application of this mor- 

 tar their tails serve for trowels, and their feet for 

 plastering. They employ different materials, as 

 wood, stone, and a kind of sandy earth, which is 

 not subject to dissolution in water. The wood 

 they use is almost all of the light and tender 

 kinds, as alder, poplar, and willow, which grow 

 generally on the banks of rivers, and are more 

 easily barked, cut, and transported, than the 

 heavier and more solid species of timber. When 

 they once attack a tree, they never abandon it 

 till they cut it down, and carry it off. They 

 always begin the operation of cutting at a foot or 

 a foot and half above the ground. They labour 

 in a sitting posture ; and besides the convenience 

 of this situation, they enjoy the pleasure of gnaw- 

 ing perpetually the bark and wood, which are 

 most agreeable to their taste ; for they prefer 

 fresh bark and tender wood, to most of their or- 

 dinary aliment. Of these provisions they lay up 

 ample stores, to support them during the winter ; 



