AMPHIBIOUS QUADRUPEDS. 57 



habitation against the wind as well as the water* 

 They make two apertures, at the bottom, to the 

 stream ; one is a passage to their bagnio, which 

 they always keep neat and clean ; the other leads 

 to that part of the building where every thing is 

 conveyed that will either soil or damage their 

 upper apartments. They have a third opening 

 or door-way, much higher, contrived for the pre- 

 vention of their being shut up and confined when 

 the frost and snow has closed the apertures of the 

 lower floors. Sometimes they build their houses 

 altogether upon dry land; but then they sink 

 trenches five or six feet deep, in order to descend 

 into the water when they see convenient. They 

 make use of the same materials, and are equally 

 industrious, in the erection of their lodges as their 

 dikes. Their walls are perpendicular, and about 

 two feet thick. As their teeth are more service- 

 able than saws, they cut off all the wood that 

 projects beyond the wall. After this, when they 

 have mixed up some clay and dry grass together, 

 they work it into a kind of mortar, with which, 

 by the help of their tails, they plaster all their 

 works, both within and without. 



The inside is vaulted, and is large enough for 

 the reception of eight or ten beavers. In case it 

 rises in an oval figure, it is for the generality 

 above twelve feet long, and eight or ten feet 

 broad. If the number of inhabitants increase to 

 fifteen, twenty, or thirty, the edifice is enlarged 

 in proportion. I have been credibly informed, 

 that four hundred beavers have been discovered 

 to reside in one large mansion-house, divided into 



VOL. III. R 



