304 CAPTAIN CAETWRIGHT'S 



tail is so heavy, and the tendons of it so weak, 

 though numerous, that I do not think they can 

 use it to that effect ; and that therefore they daub 

 the earth on with their hands, for I must call them 

 so. When they dive, they give a smack on the 

 water with their tails as they go down; but that 

 appears to me to proceed from the tail falling over 

 with its own weight. They move very slowly on 

 land, and being also a very cowardly creature, are 

 easily killed there by any man or beast that 

 chances to meet with them: yet, being defended 

 by long fur, and a thick skin, and armed with 

 long, strong teeth, firmly set in very strong jaws, 

 they are capable of making a stout resistance. I 

 have heard of an old one, which cut the leg of a 

 dog nearly off at one stroke, and I make not the 

 least doubt of the truth of the information. Still 

 I have been informed, that otters will enter their 

 houses and kill them; but I believe it must only 

 be the young ones, when the old ones are from 

 home ; for I hardly think, that an old beaver would 

 suffer itself to be killed by an otter. When met 

 on shore by a man, they have been known to sit 

 upon their breech and fall a crying like a young 

 child; an instance of which I must relate. 



A man newly arrived in Newfoundland, was 

 walking through a wood, and near a pond; where 

 he chanced to meet a beaver with a billet of wood 

 on his shoulder, going down to the water. . As 

 soon as the creature saw him, he laid down his 

 load, sat upon his breech and cried exactly like 

 an infant. The man having more tenderness in 



