76 WAITING IN THE WILDERNESS 



and back side of every dam. Of course many 

 trees cut had been built into the new dams and 

 houses, but most of those we saw had been cut 

 and used for food. 



Most of the beaver houses stood out in the 

 pond like little islands. A few were built partly 

 on the shore with one edge in the water. At 

 two or three colonies we failed to find any house. 

 Commonly where the bank was gravelly and 

 not rocky they had a den in the bank. The 

 den was two or three feet below the surface and 

 several feet from the water. The passageway 

 to this was by a tube or hole about one foot in 

 diameter and several feet long, with the opening 

 or entrance a foot or two beneath the water of 

 the stream or pond. Being well beneath the 

 surface of the water it was not closed by ice 

 freezing in it, and being open the beavers could 

 go in and out of their den into the water be- 

 neath the ice even in midwinter. 



One evening prior to this time we camped 

 by a beaver pond in the edge of which was a 

 temporarily abandoned beaver house. Up to this 

 time Diver had not seen a beaver or a beaver 

 house. To see what he would make of this, I car- 

 ried him over and placed him on top of it. He was 

 interested evidently by the scent which arose 

 through the half-plastered top. He put his nose 

 against this and sniffed, and then appeared to be 



