which it awakened, until the materials collected 

 seemed to be worth arranging for publication." 



The greatest admirers of the beaver are those 

 who know him best. He bears acquaintance. 

 This cannot be had by merely looking at the 

 animal, nor by sympathetically studying his mon- 

 umental works. These works will of course im- 

 press one, but they give one at best only a trav- 

 eler's impression. Long and repeated visits to 

 the colony in its busy season appear to be the 

 best way to get at the character of the beaver. 

 The cubical contents of a dam may not even 

 suggest the obstacles overcome in its construc- 

 tion, the labor of getting the material, the dangers 

 avoided, the numerous unexpected difficulties 

 overcome. Five cords of green poles and limbs 

 in a neat pile in the pond by the beaver house 

 may tell that the harvest has been gathered, but 

 it does not tell that a part of this harvest may 

 have been gathered a mile away and skillfully 

 transported to the house with difficulty and amid 

 dangers. A part of the food-pile may have been 

 dragged laboriously uphill and along trails which 

 required months of labor to open ; or numerous 



56 



