56 HUNTING THE BEAVER. 



cupola. These are the internal dimensions. Externally 

 they are much greater, on account of the thickness of the 

 walls, which are being continually strengthened with mud 

 and branches, until, in frosty weather, they are as hard as 

 stone. Each "lodge" contains several animals, whose 

 beds are arranged against the inner wall. 



No animal, however, can long baffle human ingenuity. 

 The trapper, who pursues the beaver for the sake of his 

 fur, and the peculiar odoriferous secretion called " castor," 

 is more than a match for all his artifices. He is not safe, 

 this unfortunate beaver, even among the frost and snow of 

 winter. Striking the ice smartly, the trapper judges from 

 the sound whether he is near an opening ; and as soon as 

 he hits upon one, cuts away the ice, and stops up the 

 opening, to prevent the beavers from escaping into the 

 water. Then he goes ashore, and by repeated soundings 

 follows up the course of the beavers' subterranean gallery, 

 which is sometimes thirty feet long; and by carefully 

 watching the various openings, he generally surprises all 

 the inhabitants. He must be careful, however, that no 

 blood is shed, for the scent immediately alarms the beavers, 

 and they will not return to the "lodge." A curious 

 superstition on the part of the trappers leads them to 

 remove a knee-cap from each captured animal, and throw 

 it into the fire. 



Generally the beavers quit their "lodge" in the summer- 

 time, the older males taking to the water, and swimming 

 up and down the stream in bachelor-like liberty, until the 

 month of August, when they resume a domesticated life. 

 Others there are, called "paresseux" or "idlers" by the 



