152 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 



ence in urging protection for the conservers of 

 water. 



Another and seldom considered result of beavers' 

 work is the effect it has on the topography of a 

 country. Fresh streams and rivers are made and 

 old ones diverted to an extraordinary extent by the 

 building of dams and consequent forming of ponds. 

 Even new springs are brought to the surface by 

 the pressure of the water in these ponds. Land- 

 slides are prevented by reducing the force of streams, 

 and in many ways quite unknown to us the con- 

 tinued work of the beaver has had its varied effects 

 on the land. 



The whole question of preserving the beaver 

 should receive most serious attention, for even 

 apart from the sentimental side which deserves 

 consideration, the practical value of the animals is 

 undeniable. The idea of protecting the beaver is 

 of long standing. As far back as 1634 in the 

 Jesuit Relations, there are the following paragraphs : 



" We (the Jesuits) shall be able to instruct them 

 (the Indians) easily and Beaver will greatly multiply. 

 These animals are more prolific than our sheep in 

 France, the females bearing as many as five or six 

 each year. But when the savages find a lodge of 

 them they kill all, great and small, male and 

 female. There is danger that they will finally 

 exterminate the species in this region (Three 

 Rivers) as has happened among the Hurons who 

 have not a single beaver, going elsewhere to buy 



