274 NATURAL HISTORV. 



grow on the banks of rivers, as these are most easily 

 cut down, stripped of their bark, and carried; and all 

 these operations they perform before they relinquish 

 a tree which they have once attacked. They cut it 

 at the distance of a foot or a foot and a half from the 

 ground : they sit as they work ; and besides the ad- 

 rantage of this convenient posture, they have the plea- 

 sure of continually gnawing fresh bark and soft wood, 

 both which they prefer to most other kinds of aliment; 

 averse to dry wood, they always provide an ample 

 store of these for their subsistence during winter.* 

 Near their habitations they establish their magazines ; 

 and to each hut or cabin there is one allotted, of a 

 size proportioned to the number of its inhabitants, to 

 which they have all a common right ; nor do they ;.t- 

 tempt to plunder their neighbours. 



Hamlets, to use the expression, have been seen, 

 composed of twenty and even twenty-five dwellings. 

 Such large settlements, however, are rare. In general 

 they do not contain more than tan or a dozen families' 

 each of which has its own separate district, magazine, 

 and habitation; nor will it allow any strangers to set- 

 tle within its inclosure. The smallest dwellings contain 

 two, four, and six ; the largest, eighteen, twenty, and 

 thirty beavers : and it seldom or never happens, that 

 the number of males and females is not pretty equal. 

 Their society therefore may be said to consist frequent- 

 ly of one hundred and fifty or two hiuidrcd workmen, 

 which, having first exerted their united industry and 

 diligence in rearing a grand public work, afterwards 

 form themselves into different bodies, in order to con- 

 struct private habitations. 



* Tlie spice allotted for (lie provision of t'iglit of ten beavers, occupies 

 from tweatj-iive lo tbu'tj feet square, ami from ei-jht to teu feet deep. 



