60 THROUGH CANADA 



hand-grip, that my fingers would not allow me to 

 forget readily . . . and other things that had upon 

 them the milling and stamping of nature's gentleman. 

 Believe me, they are not forgotten. 



The Corkscrew River, through which we paddled, 

 by no means belied its name. There were so many 

 turnings that every mile must have been doubled. 

 In places where it overflowed the meadows, Mark 

 would direct the canoe to another bend of the river, 

 which would have taken twenty minutes to reach by 

 the direct course. These overflows were invariably 

 caused by the beavers, which swarmed in the stream. 

 These clever engineers erect dams to hold up the 

 water for their own purpose. For substantiality they 

 were marvellous structures. We had to carry the 

 canoe across them, and had they been constructed by 

 human hands with the same material, they could not 

 have been more firm. Jumping upon them made not 

 the slightest impression. The forest was a good way 

 off the river, and the felling and drawing of timber 

 must have entailed much labour. Some of the wood 

 consisted of good-sized trees. The beavers' capacity 

 for this kind of work is phenomenal. We saw trees 

 19^ inches in diameter, which had been felled by 

 their sharp incisors. The males are said to be the 

 hewers of wood, and the females the builders. The 

 labour is conducted on co-operative principles. Just 

 above the dam we found their house on the bank. It 

 consisted of brambles daubed over with mud so closely 



