THE INTELLIGENT BEAVER 



and think I can say without boasting that I possess 

 as wide a practical knowledge of their ways as any 

 man living, and I look up to the beaver as the most 

 wise and energetic of them all. He makes no mistakes. 

 WTien he cuts down a tree he arranges for it to fall 

 precisely in the right place, so as to form part of 

 his dam. You may call it what you will — instinct, 

 experience, intelHgence — yet you cannot get away 

 from the fact that he succeeds where the vast majority 

 of men would utterly fail. The woodman would 

 bring the tree down within a few feet of where 

 he wanted it, and drag or lever it into position after- 

 wards ; the beaver, not having the strength to move 

 it once it has fallen, makes sure that no moving is 

 necessary. And we have allowed the poor animals to 

 be slaughtered in thousands ! 



A reserve dam is always constructed below the main 

 dam, which is sometimes nearly six feet in height. 

 The reserve dam, usually about a foot liigh, provides 

 an intermediate step for the water. Otherwise the 

 rush might be too great, the main dam Vv^ould probably 

 be undermined, and the whole thing washed away. 



I wholesomely detest the poacher. I suppose, 

 however, that, like a good many other people whom 

 I do not admire, he imagines he has a right to Hve. 

 Alas ! in some parts of the world material success 

 is a greater thing than sentiment. Our own system, 

 based on the theory that there are certain " things a 



283 



