THE PERSISTENT BEAVER 59 



pile, and prevented the ice from troubling the 

 colonists. Beavers apparently comprehend the 

 advantage of having a house close to a spring. 

 This spring commonly is between the main house 

 entrance and the winter food-pile. 



Their pond did not fill with sediment. As 

 the waters came entirely from springs they 

 were almost free of sediment. After eighteen 

 years of use there was but a thin covering of 

 sediment on the bottom of the pond. Neither 

 brook nor stream entered this pond. Was this 

 pond constructed in this place for the purpose 

 of avoiding sediment? As beavers occasion- 

 ally and with much labour build in a place of 

 this kind, when there are other and easier near- 

 by places in which to build, it may be that this 

 pond was placed here because it would escape 

 sediment. This was the founding of the Spruce 

 Tree colony. It is still inhabited. 



