140 THE MUSK-RAT, OR MUSQUASH. 



the broken leg off, and went away. It was supposed that he 

 would not come again ; but two nights afterwards he was 

 found fast in a trap — in each case tempted by the castoreum. 

 The stake was always licked, or sucked, clean. The substance 

 seems to act as a soporific, as the creatures, after tasting it, 

 always remain a day without coming out of their houses. So 

 wary generally are the beavers, that a trapper is always care- 

 ful not to leave his scent on the spot. To avoid this he fre- 

 quently cuts down a tree, and walks on its branches towards 

 the edge of the path, afterwards withdrawing it, and plenti- 

 fully sprinkling water around." 



The Indians and Canadian voyageurs eat the flesh of the 

 beaver, esteeming it, when roasted with the skin on — the hair 

 having been singed off — the most dainty of dishes. Early in 

 this century, when beaver fur was much in demand for the 

 manufacture of hats, upwards of 120,000 skins were exported 

 from Quebec alone in one year. The warfare long waged 

 against the unfortunate rodents now goes on with somewhat 

 diminished activity. A change of fashion — the substitution 

 of silk for beaver — has probably saved them from utter exter- 

 mination. The scientific name of their tribe, Castor, was lono; 

 a popular term for a hat ; but now that their fur has ceased 

 to be employed as formerly, the term itself appears to have 

 gone out of use. 



THE MUSK-RAT, OR MUSQUASH. 



Voyaging along the margin of a lake, we may see on the 

 shores numbers of little flattened oval nests composed of reeds 

 and sedges, while numerous holes in the bank, with quantities 

 of shells, chiefly of the fresh-water mussel, scattered round, show 

 the entrance to the habitations of the musquash, or ondatra. 



