HOW TO HUNT AND CATCH THE BEAYEll. 21 



possible. Duiing the time the most expert hunters eve 

 thus occupiocl, the others, vrith the women, are busy m 

 breakmg open the beaver-houses, whicli, as may be sup 

 posed from what has been ah-eacly stated, is a task of some 

 difficulty. The beavers, alarmed at the invasion of their 

 dwellings, take to the water and swim with surprising 

 swiftness to iheir retreats in the banks ; but their entrance 

 is betrayed to the hunters watching the holes m the ice, 

 by the motion and discoloration of the water. The entrance 

 is instantly closed with stakes of wood, and the beaver, 

 instead of finding shelter in his cave, is made prisoner and 

 destroyed. The hunter then pulls the animal out, if with- 

 in reach, by the introduction of his hand and arm, or by 

 a hook designed for this use fastened to a long handle. 

 Beaver-houses found in lakes or other standing waters 

 offer an easy prey to hunters, as there is no occasion for 

 Staking the water across. 



Among the Hudson Bay Indians every hunter has the 

 exclusive right to all the beavers caught in the washes 

 discovered by him. Each individual, on finding one, 

 places some mark, such as a pole or the branch of a tree 

 stuck up, in order to know his own. Beavers caught in 

 any house are also the property of the discoverer, who 

 takes care to mark his claim. 



The number of beavers killed in the northern parts of 

 this country is exceedingly great, even at the present 

 time, after the fur trade has been carried on for so many 

 years, and the most indiscriminate warfire waged un- 



