00-KOO-HOO PLAYS THE GAME 119 



the darker the colour the higher the price it brings. An adult 

 beaver may measure from thirty-five to forty-five inches in 

 length, and weigh anywhere from thirty to sixty pounds. The 

 beaver's home is usually in the form of an island house, built 

 in the waters of a small lake or slowly rmniing stream, to af- 

 ford protection from prowling enemies, much in the same way 

 that the old feudal lords surrounded the ramparts of their 

 castles with broad moats and flooded the intervening space with 

 a deep canal of water, in order to check the advance of enemy 

 raiders. The surrounding shores of the beaver's castle are 

 nearly always wooded with poplars, as it is upon the bark 

 of that tree that the beaver depends most for his food; though 

 at times, other hardwoods contribute to his feast as well as 

 water-lily roots and other vegetation. 



The beaver's island-like lodge is a dome-shaped structure that 

 rises from four to seven feet above the water, and measures 

 from ten to thirty feet in diameter on the water-hne. It is 

 composed mostly of barkless sticks and poles from one to four 

 inches in diameter, although at times much heavier material 

 is used; and it is tightly chinked with stones and mud and 

 matted vegetation. Frequently, I have watched the building 

 of their lodges. A foundation of water-logged poles and sticks 

 is laid upon the lake or river bottom, next mud and stones 

 are added, then another lot of branches, thus the structure 

 rises in a fairly solid mound until its dome-like top reaches the 

 desired height above the water-line. Then the beavers tunnel 

 their two runways into the centre of the mass from an under- 

 water level on the outside to an over-water level on the inside 

 of the mound. Next, by gnawing away the inside sticks and 

 excavating the inner mass, the inside chamber is formed, 

 measuring anywhere from four to fourteen feet in width, and 

 a httle over two feet in height, with its waUs finished fairly 

 smooth. Furthermore, the chamber is provided with two floors 

 each of which covers about half the room. While the lower 



