HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 417 



it may be from defect in the drawing, or from being 

 taken from a different species, we cannot determine. 

 Hearne, in his journey of discovery to the north- 

 western ocean, describes the various animals he 

 met with in those dreary regions, and has given an 

 account of one which he calls the Musquash, Musk 

 Rat, or Musk Beaver, and w T hich we think can be 

 no other than this. He says their manner of life 

 resembles that of the Beaver; like that animal they 

 are provident, and build houses with mud and 

 grass, to shelter themselves from the inclemency of 

 the cold in winter: these, however, they do not 

 build on the banks of rivulets, like the Beaver, but 

 generally on the ice, at a considerable distance from 

 the shore, as soon as the water is skinned over, 

 always taking care to keep a hole open in it to 

 admit them to dive for their food, which chiefly 

 consists of the roots of water plants: and in the 

 southern parts of the country, they feed much on 

 the root called calamus aromaticus. When the 

 water happens, from the long severity of the frost, 

 to freeze to the bottom, and their stores of provi- 

 sions fail, they prey upon each other, so that only 

 one entire animal is left dead, surrounded by the 

 skeletons of those which have been devoured. 

 Though they generally build their winter habita- 

 tions in such places as are just described, yet this 

 is not invariably the case, for they also raise 

 mounds or small islands in the ( midst of deep 

 swamps over-run with rushes and long grass, and 

 upon these, in clumps together, form their sheltered 

 retreats. The Musk Beaver is very cleanly, and 

 when fat, is good eating. It is easily tamed, and 

 soon becomes playful and familiar, and smells plea- 

 santly of musk. 



VOL. III. 3 G 



