BEAVEK— CANALS. 379 



♦concede to him, and yet it is proper to mention the relation in 

 which these dams stand to each other — whether that relation 

 is regarded as accidental or intentional. 



As before, we have here to commend the caution dis- 

 played by the closing sentence ; but, as useless dams are 

 not found in other places, the inference clearly is that the 

 <iam in question, both as regards its exceptional position 

 and exceptional height, can only be explained by suppos- 

 ing the structure to have been designed for the use which 

 it unquestionably served. That is to say, if we do not 

 ■entertain this explanation, there is no other to be sug- 

 gested ; and although in any ordinary or occasional in- 

 stance of the display of animal intelligence in such a degree 

 as this I should not hesitate to attribute the facts to acci- 

 dent, in the case of the beaver there are such a multitude 

 of constantly recurring facts, all and only referable to 

 a practical though not less extraordinary appreciation of 

 hydrostatic principles, that the hypothesis of accident 

 must here, I think, be laid aside. To substantiate this 

 statement I shall detail the facts concerning the beaver- 

 canals. 



As Mr. Morgan, who first discovered and described 

 these astonishing structures, observes, — 



Remarkable as the dam may still be considered, from its 

 structure and objects, it scarcely surpasses, if it may be said to 

 equal, these water-ways, here called canals, which are excavated 

 through the low lands bordering their ponds for the purpose of 

 reaching the hard wood, and for affording a channel for its 

 transportation to their lodges. To conceive and execute such 

 a design presupposes a more complicated and extended process 

 of reasoning than that required for the construction of a dam, 

 and, although a much simpler work to perform when the 

 thought was fully developed, it was far less to have been 

 expected from a mute animal. 



These canals are developed in this way. One of the 

 principal objects served by a dam thrown across a small 

 stream, is that of flooding the low ground so as to obtain 

 water connection with the first high ground upon which 

 hard wood is to be found, such connection being conve- 

 nient, or even necessary, for the purposes of transport. 



