THE DAESMAN. 141 



that it reminds the observer of the elephant's pro- 

 boscis. Were it not for the peculiar form of this organ, 

 nearly all the Daesmans would perish in the winter time, 

 not from cold, against which they are tolerably proof, 

 but from want of air. 



In the winter time, the streams in which the Daes- 

 man lives are covered with thick ice, through which 

 very little air can pass. The animal is therefore driven 

 to its burrow, which is a complicated series of tunnel- 

 lings some twenty feet or so in total length. The 

 mouth of the burrow opens under the surface of the 

 water, and although its ramifications extend upwards, 

 they do not break into the open air like those of the 

 mole. Indeed, even if the Daesman did desire to dig 

 its way into the air, it could not do so, the frozen soil 

 beiDg too hard for its feet. 



Its long proboscis of a nose now stands the crea- 

 ture in good stead, for it goes about in search of small 

 apertures in the ground or ice, and by thrusting its 

 nose into them, contrives to breathe where an animal 

 less fitly endowed would, to a certainty, die of asphyxia. 

 Even the Daesman sometimes succumbs, and the 

 animals are found lying dead and suffocated in their 

 burrows. 



For frost the Daesman cares but little, being pro- 

 tected from cold as well as from the water by a double 

 coating of fur, like that of the seal, namely, an inner 

 coat of fine soft down, and an outer covering of stiffer 

 hair. The inner coat is so thick and warm that the 

 fur is in great requisition as an article of apparel. It 

 is not only warm, but light, and the only drawback to 

 its use is its costliness, the Daesmans not being very 



