BEAVER. 



251 



companies ; when living singly, it sometimes lives in a 

 hole in the bank. The usual manner of capture is by 

 trappings, but they are sometimes taken in nets, or 

 their houses are broken into, and when the animals take 

 refuge in holes in the banks, they are speared. When a 

 Beaver is surprised in the water, it gives the alarm by 

 striking the surface with its tail. 



The Beaver, both male and female, has two glands, 

 situated in the hinder part of the body, and filled with a 

 secretion resembling sealing-wax, known in the crude 

 state as Castorum. This is highly appreciated as a 

 drug, fetching from 38s. to 45s. 6d. per lb. according 

 to the brand and quality. The Hudson's Bay Company 

 import about 2,000 lbs. of Castorum annually, which is 

 sold in December and January, and is briskly competed 

 for. A smaller quantity is imported by other traders 

 from the United States, and Canada from time to time. 

 In 1891, 1,486 lbs. were sold in London. Castorum is 

 chieliy purchased for Germany, and the continent. The 

 districts that produce the largest quantities are Fort 

 York and Moose Eiver. The sort most valued is that 

 with a reddish hue. It has a peculiar, but not disagree- 

 able smell, and, when it is sold, is quite hard, and has 

 somewhat the appearance of the green fig when ripe in 

 this country. On the death of the animal, the two 

 glands, or, more correctly, the double gland, must be 

 extracted at once. 



The quantity of skins imported is considerable. 

 Beaver skins, as well as Musk-rat, are always sold by the 

 Hudson's Bay Company in January. This Company 

 sold 63,419 Beaver skins in January, 1891. They vary 

 in price from 5s. 3d. to 69s., according to size and 

 quality. 



The quantity seems not to have materially decrease 



