LABRADOR JOURNAL 297 



day three otters, a niusqiuiisli,' and uiiie spruce- 

 game : I beheaded one of the latter with my rifle, 

 and Ivilled another with shot. 



Sioidaij, September 28, 1783. As all accounts 

 which I have hitherto read of beavers, are very 

 erroneous, I shall here comnumicate my observa- 

 tions on those animals. I suppose, that none of 

 the writers who have mentioned them, ever saw 

 a beaver-house, but related only the tales of illit- 

 erate furriers, whose veracity is not to be de- 

 pended upon. I tremble at seeing myself under 

 the necessity of contradicting that celebrated nat- 

 ural historian Compt de Buffon; yet I must take 

 the libertv to do it. He savs, '* A beaver has a 

 scalv tail, because he eats fish: " I wonder much 

 tliat ^fonsieur Buffon had not one himself for the 

 same reason; for I am sure that he has Cclten a 

 great deal more fish, than all the beavers in the 

 world put together. Beavers will neither eat fish, 

 nor any other animal food; but live upon the 

 leaves and bark of such trees and shrubs as have 

 7i(»t a resinous juice, and the root of the water- 

 lilly. 1 liavc known them eat black spruce; and 

 Ihcy will sometimes cut down silver fir; but T 

 Itelieve, that is ojily to build with when other 

 trees at-e scarce. A\nien they eat, they hold their 

 food in their forepaws and sit u)) like monkies. 

 Ill tlie sumiiier lime lliey fainble abont very nuich, 

 pa\ing liitle regard to their houses, and will make 



' I.abrarlor mupqiifmh or miiskrat, Fiher zihpthirus aqidlonins. Tho 

 anirnnl foiinH in Labrador is smaller and darker than the common musk- 

 rat, Fiber zUnlhinut. 



