(Ruinefc 



which was more than three hundred feet long. 

 Three of these lake dwellings stood near the 

 upper margin, close to where the brook poured 

 in. The other five were clustered by the outlet, 

 just below which a small willow-grown, boulder- 

 dotted island lay between the divided waters of 

 the stream. 



A number of beavers were busy gnawing down 

 aspens, while others cut the felled ones into sec- 

 tions, pushed and rolled the sections into the 

 water, and then floated them to the harvest piles, 

 one of which was being made beside each house. 

 Some were quietly at work spreading a coat of 

 mud on the outside of each house. This would 

 freeze and defy the tooth and claw of the hun- 

 griest or the strongest predaceous enemy. Four 

 beavers were leisurely lengthening and repairing 

 a dam. A few worked singly, but most of them 

 were in groups. All worked quietly and with ap- 

 parent deliberation, but all were in motion, so 

 that it was a busy scene. " To work like a beaver ! " 

 What a stirring exhibition of beaver industry and 

 forethought I viewed from my boulder-pile ! 



At times upward of forty of them were in 



155 



