350 THE ONDRATA. 



the swamp, the musquash makes breathing-holes through it, 

 and protects them from the frost by a mud covering. In severe 

 winters, however, these holes freeze up in spite of their coverings, 

 and many of the animals die. It is to be remarked, that the 

 small grassy lakes selected by the musquash for its residence, 

 are never so firmly frozen nor covered with such thick ice as 

 deeper and clearer water. The Indians kill these animals by 

 spearing them through the walls of their houses, approaching 

 with great caution, for the ondratas dive when alarmed by a 

 sound on the ice.* An experienced hunter, well acquainted 

 with the direction of the chamber and the position in which 

 its inmates lie, can transfix four or five at a time. As soon 

 as, from the motion of the spear, it is evident that the animal 

 is struck, the house is broken down, and it is taken out. The 

 principal seasons for taking it are the autumn, before the snow 

 falls, and the spring, after it has disappeared, but while the 

 ice is still entire. In winter the deep snow prevents the houses 

 and breathing- holes from being seen. One of the first acts 

 of the hunter is to stop all the holes, except one, at which he 

 stations himself to spear the animals that have escaped being 

 struck, and come hither to breathe." Charlevoix states that 

 the ondrata does not take any provision into its winter quarters, 

 and that the Indians declared that not the least morsel of 

 anything is eaten by it whilst the cold continues. Cuvier, 

 however, says that they continue excavating the earth during 

 that season to get the roots of plants. " Great numbers of 

 these animals are destroyed by the inundations which cover 

 the low grounds where they haunt j and in severe winters they 

 are almost extirpated from some localities by the freezing of 

 the swamps inhabited by them. Famine in such cases drives 

 them to destroy each other. A great mortality, the cause of 

 which is unknown, also sweeps them away, and the deaths at 

 such periods (which are uncertain) are so numerous, that a fur- 

 post, where the ondrata is the principal return, is not unfre- 



* Mr. E. H. Greenhow says, " the Canadians hunt them at dusk with dogs 

 trained to the purpose." Mag. Nat. Hist. (1833), vol. vi. p. 511. 



