100 Notes on beavers. 



extensively used by the slave and dotj-rib tribes of Indiana in the 

 manufacture of medicine, and as a perfume for enticing both beaver 

 and lynx to the traps or snares laid for them. 



The flesh and tail ai*e amongst the most prized dainties of Indian 

 epicures : the former when first smoked and then broiled is not at all 

 unwelcome food ; the latter when boiled is a noted article of trapper 

 luxury, though, forsooth, if the truth must be told, somewhat gristly 

 and fat, and rather too much for the stomach of anyone but a north- 

 western hunter or explorer. " He is a devil of a fellow," they say on 

 the Rocky Mountain slopes, " he can eat two beavers' tails." 



The scrapings of the beaver's skin form one of the strongest 

 descriptions of glue, not aifected by water, and used by the Indians as 

 paint for their paddles. 



Smellie, in his " Philosophy of Natural History," devotes a chapter 

 to the Society of animals, in which he reminds us that the associating 

 principle from which so many advantages are derived, is not confined 

 to the human species, but extends in some instances to evei*y class of 

 animals. 



Man possesses a portion of the reasoning faculty highly superior to 

 that of any other animal. He alone enjoys the power of expressing 

 his ideas by articulate and artificial language. With its aid, and the 

 habit of association, the human intellect in the progress of time arrives 

 at a higher degree of perfection. 



Society gives rise to virtue, honour, government, subordination, art, 

 science, order, happiness; under its auspices, as in a fertile climate, 

 human talents germinate and are expanded, the mechanical and 

 liberal aris flourish : poets, orators, historians, philosophers, lawyers, 

 physicists, "microscopists," and theologians are produced, and its 

 advantages are immense despite the inconveniences, hardships, 

 injustice, oppressions, and cruelties which too often originate from it. 

 Now Society may be divided into two kinds — 1st, Proper Societies, 

 in which the individuals not only live together in numbers, but also 

 carry on operations having a direct tendency to promote the welfare of 

 the community ; and 2nd, Improper Societies, in which the individuals 

 merely herd together from the love of company, without carrying on 

 any common operation. 



Next to the intelligence exhibited in human society, that of the 

 beavers is most conspicuous. Their operations in preparing, fashioning, 

 and trausportnig the heavy materials for building their winter 

 habitations are truly astonishing, and when we read their history we 

 are apt to think we are perusing the history of man in a period of 

 society not inconsiderably advanced. 



It is only by the united strength and co-operation of numbers that 

 the beavers could be enabled to produce such wonderful effects ; for in 

 a solitary state, as they at present appear in some northern parts of 

 Europe, the beavers are timid and stupid animals ; they neither 

 associate, nor attempt to construct villages, but content themselves 

 with digging holes iu the earth. 



