250 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



have a curious superstitious notion, which leads them to remove 

 a knee-cap from each Beaver and to throw it into the fire. They 

 would expect ill-luck were they to omit this ceremony, which is 

 wonderfully like the custom of our fishermen of spitting into 

 the mouth of the first fish they catch, and on the first money 

 which they take in the day, * for luck.' 



Generally, the Beavers desert their huts in the summer time, 

 although one or two of the houses may be occupied by a mother 

 and her young offspring, All the old Beavers who have no 

 domestic ties to chain them at home, take to the water, and 

 swim up and down the stream at liberty, until the month of 

 August, when they return to their homes. There are, also, 

 certain individuals called by the trappers 'les paresseux,* or 

 idlers, which do not live in houses, and make no dam, but 

 abide in subterranean tunnels like those of our common water 

 rat, to which they are closely allied. These * paresseux' are 

 always males, and it sometimes happens that several will inhabit 

 the same tunnel. The trapper is always pleased when he finds 

 the habitation of an idler, as its capture is a comparatively easy 

 task. 



