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RESULTS OF BEAVERS' WORK 157 



only as a means of livelihood may not kill beaver 

 neither must anyone else, except possibly as 

 specimens for museums or such special purpose, 

 but that the Government should indulge in beaver 

 killing for commercial reasons is past their under- 

 standing. To fully appreciate what I am speaking 

 of it might be well to explain the situation a little 

 more clearly. The land which has been set apart 

 as a game reserve and park was formerly occupied 

 by trappers who made their living out of the wild 

 lands. According to their unwritten law, a man 

 on establishing a claim has a right to a certain 

 tract of country for trapping purposes. These 

 rights are regarded as almost sacred, and the man 

 who poaches on another's boundary is held to be 

 little better than a thief. These rights go from 

 father to son, with the understanding, 1 believe, 

 that if the land is not trapped for a specified 

 number of years, the privilege is forfeited. In 

 order to get possession of a desirable tract, men 

 will go great distances and endure untold hard- 

 ships, with the understanding that once they have 

 succeeded in finding what they want it is to be 

 theirs, unless sold by the Government. It will be 

 seen by this that the best trappers who for years 

 had set their line of traps through the land which 

 is now a park felt their expulsion very severely. 

 To make amends to them a few were taken on as 

 rangers or wardens. The men, though feeling 

 themselves in hard luck, reahsed at heart that it 



