874 ON TE 



which directly admit of practical uses; while 

 most of the others are employed as food by the 

 uncivilized inhabitants of the countries in which 

 they prevail, and with these people, their skins 

 also are often brought into use. 



Among the animals classed by Linnaeus, in his 

 order of Glires, the JBeaver, from the peculiarity 

 of its instincts and habits, is in every particular 

 deserving of historical notice, and therefore I shall 

 confine my observations to this animal. 



The Castor Fiber, or Beaver ; is rather larger 

 than the Badger, measuring about three feet in 

 length, from the tip of the nose to the tail, and 

 weighing from fifty to sixty pounds. It is an 

 inhabitant of the northern parts of Europe, Asia, 

 and America, hut particularly of Canada, where 

 it is to be found in the woody banks of rivers 

 and unfrequented lakes, feeding on the bark and 

 leaves of trees peculiar to those situations, avoid- 

 ing animal food of every kind; though it has been 

 stated by some authors, that it partakes of cray 

 fish ; a circumstance, considering its usua4 pro- 

 pensities and the formation of its teeth, very 

 much to be doubted. 



Its outline presents a head, thick and pyrami- 

 dal, with small, circular eyes, short ears almost 

 concealed in its fur, and a blunt nose a thick 

 and short neck and a very strong,compact body, 

 highly arched in the back, terminating in a tail 

 about a foot in length, partly enveloped in fur, 



