600 X A TUBAL HISTORY. 



and the trunk cut into suitable lengths, and then all is hauled to the 

 neighborhood of the houses to form the winter's supply. 



In trapping beaver considerable skill is necessary. The castoreum is 

 rubbed on the trap not only to attract the beaver, but to kill the human 

 smell. The trap is baited with some favorite wood, like swamp-maple or 

 mountain-ash. Then, too, the trap must be fastened, and were the trapper 

 to tie it to any tree, the chances are that the trap and the beaver would 

 both be missing at the next visit, while the stump would show exactly 

 how the operation was done. The trapper knows, however, that the 

 beaver will not gnaw a dry spruce stake, and hence he fastens the trap to 

 one. When caught, the skin is taken off and cured. A beaver-skin will 

 weigh from two to three pounds, and is worth at first hands from two to 

 three dollars a pound. The flesh is good, and the meat of the scaly, 

 paddle-like tail is esteemed as an especial delicacy. 



In Oregon and Washington Territory occurs a strange rodent known 

 by a name equally strange ; it is the sewellel or showt'l ; but besides, it 

 has other cognomens like mountain-beaver, mountain-boomer, ground-hog, 

 gopher, badger, and shote. The first two names are corruptions of the 

 Indian words for this animal. It is emphatically a burrowing form, and 

 in the broken country on the western base of the Cascade range the ground 

 is riddled in places with its holes. These communicate with burrows of 

 vast extent, and are as much of a nuisance as those of the gophers. It 

 lives on various vegetable substances, and after gathering the plants they 

 are said to leave them on the logs to wilt and dry. The Indians in their 

 myths believe this to be the first animal created with life. To the natu- 

 ralist it is interesting, as it combines the structure of the marmot and 

 of the beaver with some peculiarities of its own ; to the Indian it is of 

 importance, as it furnishes both food and clothing, its skin being much 

 like that of the muskrat. 



The marmots embrace a considerable number of forms more or less like 

 our common woodchuck, which is one of the largest members of the group. 

 It is, however, too well known to demand farther notice, especially as it 

 falls far short of its celebrated relative, the prairie-dog, in interest. All 

 over the western plains to the Pacific slope occur their villages, sometimes 

 of immense extent. Sometimes for miles these hillocks dot the prairie, 

 each little mound of earth forming an observatory for the curious little 

 animal who, sitting bolt upright upon it, watches every movement, and 

 then, when 1 lis curiosity is satisfied, gives a comical and almost derisive 

 flirt of his little tail, and disappears headlong down the burrow beside him. 

 But the curiosity returns, and in a few moments a venturesome nose and 

 a bright pair of eyes appear at the mouth of the hole, exhibiting a perfect 



