86 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 



dams by the united efforts of many beavers. 

 Never having seen any heavier than nine pounds, 

 I cannot guarantee the correctness of the trappers' 

 statement, but Mills is a careful and very accurate 

 observer and thoroughly reliable. Generally speak- 

 ing, it is not wise to be too incredulous, and any 

 information, to have value, should be the result of 

 very careful, personal observation. Otherwise the 

 source of the information should be given. Many 

 of the trappers are blessed with a keen and rather 

 subtle sense of humour, and few things give them 

 greater pleasure than filling up the stranger with 

 yarns, and they derive a real joy if they ever 

 happen to see these same yarns in print, especially 

 if the " facts " are given as though they were 

 entirely original with the writer. On more than 

 one occasion has a trapper told me of how he had 

 tricked the tenderfoot into believing most fabulous 

 stories of the ways of wild animals. Some of 

 course tell of strange happenings, not with the idea 

 of having fun, but they enlarge on already much 

 enlarged stories that have been retailed to them. 

 Few stories shrink in the telling, while most grow 

 with alarming vigour, and if we would believe all 

 that is told of beavers our minds would be filled 

 with most marvellous " facts " more wonderful, 

 even though less reasonable, than what is accom- 

 plished by these interesting animals. 



In practically everything that is done by them 

 we can, if we use a little care, discover the object, 



