THE BEAVER. 135 



ardent and persevering, and offering an instructive 

 lesson to mankind. 



About the months of June and July the beavers be- 

 gin to assemble for the purpose of forming that 

 social compact which is to continue the greatest part 

 of the year ; and these communities generally consist 

 of two hundred of this skilful and ingenious race. 

 The place where they assemble is always by the side 

 of a river or lake ; and if the current of the former 

 happens to be strong, or it is subject to falls and 

 floods, their first object is to form a dam across the 

 stream, which they sagaciously contrive in the most 

 shallow part ; and if a tree is accidentally placed near 

 the spot, they instantly resolve to fell it down, and in 

 this enterprise they succeed by knawing it at the root, 

 and dividing it from the support by which it was sus- 

 tained. As soon as the body has fallen into the river, 

 they begin stripping it of those branches which pre- 

 vent it from lying close: it then serves as a support to 

 that fabric which with so much labour they are about 

 to rear ; and occasions a stagnation of the water which 

 surrounds their dam. 



Whilst some of these industrious animals are em- 

 ployed in forming the different branches of the tree 

 into stakes, with the intent of driving them into the 

 ground, others are busied in bringing clay for the pur- 

 pose of plastering between each of the spaces, which 

 are previously entwined with small branches and twigs, 

 so as to sustain an immense quantity of earth. 



This dike, or causeway, is frequently twelve feet 

 thick at the foundation, and descends in a declivity on 

 that side next the water, which gravitates upon the 

 work in proportion to the height, and presses with a 

 prodigious force towards the earth : the opposite side 



K 4 



