BEAVERS—THEIR WAYS. Li 
As the eyes of these animals are very quick, and their 
hearing exceedingly acute, great precaution is necessary 
in approaching their body; for as they seldom go far 
from the water, and their houses are always built close 
tothe side of some large river orlake, or dams of 
their own construction, upon the least alarm they hasten 
to the deepest part of water, and dive immediately to the 
bottom; as they do this they make a great noise by beat- 
ing the water with their tails, on purpose to put the 
whole fraternity on their guard. 
They take them with snares in the following manner: 
though the beaver usually lay upa sufficient store of 
provision to serve for their subsistence during the winter, 
they make from time to time excursions to the neighbor- 
ing woods to procure further supplies of food. The 
hunters having found out their haunts, place atrap in 
their way, baited with small pieces of bark, or young 
shoots of trees, which the beaver has no sooner laid hold 
of, than a large log of wood falls upon him, and breaks 
his back; his enemies, who are uponthe watch, soon 
appear, and instantly dispatch the helpless animal. 
At other times, when the ice on the rivers and lakes 
is about half-a foot thick, they make an opening through 
it with their hatchets, to which the beavers will soon 
hasten, on being disturbed at their houses, for a supply 
of fresh air. As their breath occasions a considerable 
motion in the water, the hunter has sufficient notice of 
their approch, and methods are easily taken for knock- 
ing them on the head the moment they appear above the 
surface. When the houses of the beavers happen to be 
near a rivulet, they are more easily destroyed: the hun- 
ters then cut the ice, and spreading a net under it, break 
