250 A JOURNEY TO THE 



1771. In respect to the beaver dunging in their houses, as some 



ecem er. pgj-gQj^g assert, it is quite wrong, as they always plunge into the 

 water to do it. I am the better enabled to make this asser- 

 tion, from having kept several of them till they became so 

 domesticated as to answer to their name, and follow those 

 to whom they were accustomed, in the same manner as a dog 

 would do ; and they were as much pleased at being fondled, 

 as any animal I ever saw. I had a house built for them, and a 

 small piece of water before the door, into which they always 

 plunged when they wanted to ease nature ; and their dung 

 being of a light substance, immediately rises and floats on the 

 surface, [244] then separates and subsides to the bottom. 

 When the Winter sets in so as to freeze the water solid, they 

 still continue their custom of coming out of their house, and 

 dunging and making water on the ice ; and when the weather 

 was so cold that I was obliged to take them into my house, 

 they always went into a large tub of water which I set for that 

 purpose ; so that they made not the least dirt, though they 

 were kept in my own sitting-room, where they were the 

 constant companions of the Indian women and children, and 

 were so fond of their company, that when the Indians were 

 absent for any considerable time, the beaver discovered great 

 signs of uneasiness, and on their return shewed equal marks 

 of pleasure, by fondling on them, crawling into their laps, 

 laying on their backs, sitting erect like a squirrel, and behaving 

 to them like children who see their parents but seldom. In 

 general, during the Winter they lived on the same food as the 

 women did, and were remarkably fond of rice and plum- 

 pudding : they would eat partridges and fresh venison very 

 freely, but I never tried them with fish, though I have heard 

 they will at times prey on them. In fact, there are few of 

 the granivorous animals that may not be brought to be car- 

 nivorous. It is well known that our domestic poultry will 

 eat animal food : thousands of geese that come to London 

 market are fattened on tallow-craps ; and our horses in 



