r 



248 BUFFALO LAND. 



my head, and telling me to hold on to them. I told 

 him to do that thing himself, and finally climbed 

 ashore." 



We afterward sought out our newly-found neigh- 

 bors, the beavers, finding their pond a short distance 

 below us on the creek, and a little lower down the 

 dam itself. Many more trees had been cut for the 

 latter than were used in its construction, several hav- 

 ing been abandoned when almost ready to fall. We 

 noticed that the butts of the prostrated trees were 

 sharpened down gradually like the point of a lead- 

 pencil, but both ways, instead of one, so that a tree 

 cut nearly through met from above and below at the 

 point of breaking, like the waist of an hour glass. 

 This dam was most interesting to all of us, since it 

 seemed so much to resemble the work of man. In 

 this waste place of the earth, it really seemed almost 

 like company, and we felt a strong desire to have a 

 friendly conference with the builders. But these had 

 formed this reservoir for the express purpose that in 

 its depths they might escaj^e intrusion, and now the 

 whole regiment of engineers seemed asleep in bar- 

 racks. Still our men secured a few very fine ones by 

 trapping. 



It appeared that the beavers were a vacillating 

 set of architects, as all the trees which stood near 

 the water and leaned over it at all, were gnawed 

 more or less, and many of them left when almost 

 ready to fall. The position of the dam had evidently 

 been determined b}'- the tree which fell first. From 

 the reckless manner in which they had slashed 

 around with their teeth, it was pertinently suggested 



