off the same as the hide is taken off a beef animal. It 

 is therefore stretched fiat for drying, and owing to the 

 peculiarly compact form of the animal the skin when 

 stretched is almost round. Instead of tacking onto a 

 wall surface, the custom with beaver skins is to stretch 

 them inside of a large hoop, where a slight, even tension 

 in all directions can be secured and where there is the 

 best opportunity for drying out. The beaver is a par- 

 ticularly hard animal to skin, owing to the meat and 

 fat clinging to the hide, so that even after the best of 

 care in removing the pelt it is necessary soon to scrape 

 thoroughly every particle of flesh and fat from the dry 

 hide. The skins are worth from eight to fifteen dollars, 

 and more in the case of very choice colors and large 

 sizes. 



The castors, or scent glands, weigh from two or three 

 ounces to about half a pound, depending upon the size 

 of the animal and possibly on the time of year. These 

 when dried are quite valuable, and of course are al- 

 ways saved when beaver are caught. They are used 

 for making certain grades of perfume and medicine. 

 Druggists tell me that the castoreum from these glands 

 is diluted thirty times for commercial use, and I can 

 easily believe it, because when Stillwell and I were 

 busy skinning beaver and handling the castors we could 

 locate each other almost before we came in view. 



Beaver meat is excellent if properly prepared, and 

 there is a surprising amount of good meat on a beaver. 

 We had it parboiled and then roasted, and had I not 

 known what it was I should certainly have pronounced 

 it lamb. The tail, including the large muscles which 



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