AMPHIBIOUS QUADRUPEDS. 259 



been duly steeped. This timber is cut again into 

 small particles, and conveyed to one of their 

 largest lodges, where the whole family meet, to 

 consume their respective dividends, which are 

 made impartially, in even and equal portions. 

 Sometimes they traverse the woods, and regale 

 their young with a more novel and elegant enter- 

 tainment. 



Such as are used to hunt these animals, know 

 perfectly well that green wood is much more 

 acceptable to them than that which is old and 

 dry ; for which reason they plant a considerable 

 quantity of it round their lodgements; and as 

 they come out to partake of it, they either catch 

 them in snares or take them by surprise. In the 

 winter, when the frosts are very severe, they 

 sometimes break a large hole in the ice; and 

 when the beavers resort thither for the benefit 

 of a little fresh air, they either kill them with 

 their hatchets, or cover the hole with a large sub- 

 stantial net. After this, they undermine and 

 subvert the whole fabric; whereupon the bea- 

 vers, in hopes to make their escape in the usual 

 way, fly with the utmost precipitation to the 

 water, and plunging into the aperture, fall di- 

 rectly into the net, and are inevitably taken. 



THE SEAL. 



EVERY step we proceed in the description of 

 amphibious quadrupeds, we make nearer advances 



