AMPHIBIOUS QUADRUPEDS. 251 



head, almost like a cat. The tail is shorter, 

 being but five inches long ; and the hair is soft, 

 short, and black, except on the head, where it is 

 of a dark brown, with a yellowish spot under the 

 throat. 



THE BEAVER. 



IN all countries, as man is civilized and im- 

 proved, the lower ranks are repressed and de- 

 graded.* Either reduced to servitude, or treated 

 as rebels, all their societies are dissolved, and all 

 their united talents rendered ineffectual. Their 

 feeble arts quickly disappear, and nothing re- 

 mains but their solitary instincts, or those foreign 

 habitudes which they receive from human educa- 

 tion. For this reason there remain no traces of 

 their ancient talents and industry, except in those 

 countries where man himself is a stranger ; where, 

 unvisited by his controlling power, for a long 

 succession of ages, their little talents have had 

 time to come to their limited perfection, and their 

 common designs have been capable of being 

 united. 



The Beaver seems to be now the only remain- 

 ing monument of brutal society.t From the re- 

 sult of its labours, which are still to be seen in 



* Buffon. 



[f This animal has the fore-teeth of the upper jaw truncated, and hollow- 

 ed in a transverse angular direction ; the tops of the fore-teeth of the lower 

 jaw lie in a transverse direction ; it has eight grinders in each jaw ; and the 

 tail is depressed. ] 



