of poplar. It was there that the beavers 

 cut most of their lumber. The water 

 in the slough was shallow and filled with 

 pond lillies, so a canal three feet wide, 

 two feet deep and two hundred and 

 twenty feet long was dug across this 

 mudhole. Through this canal the bea- 

 vers floated their sticks and brush and 

 placed them on their storage pile under 

 water so that the bark, which they eat, 

 might be kept soft and fresh for winter 

 use. Also, so that it might be reached 

 from their house under the ice, after 

 pond and river were frozen. 



Day after day Bige and I watched 

 the progress of this harvest. Saw the 

 beaver towing the floating logs through 

 the canal into the pond and up the 

 river to the lumber pile where the 

 beaver would dive with his stick and 

 presently come to the surface again, 

 leaving the stick under the water; and 

 we wondered how he did it. Also we 

 discussed possible ways of making a 

 floating stick sink. From our boat we 



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