3n 



how to build dams, and water-control had not be- 

 come a lost art. The morning after the comple- 

 tion of the drainage ditch, a man was sent up to 

 the lake to find out why the water was not com- 

 ing down. A short time after the ditch-diggers 

 had departed, the lowering water had aroused the 

 beaver, who had promptly placed a dam in the 

 mouth of the ditch. The man removed this dam 

 and went down to report. The beaver speedily re- 

 placed it. Thrice did the man return and destroy 

 their dam, but thrice did the beaver promptly 

 restore it. 



The dam-material used in obstructing the ditch 

 consisted chiefly of the peeled sticks from which 

 the beaver had eaten the bark in winter; along 

 with these were mud and grass. The fourth 

 time that the ditch guard returned, he threw 

 away all the material in the dam and then set 

 some steel traps in the water by the mouth of the 

 ditch. The first two beaver who came to reblock- 

 ade the ditch were caught in these traps and 

 drowned while struggling to free themselves. 

 Other beaver heroically continued the work that 

 these had begun. The cutting down of saplings 



1 80 



