80 BEAVER MEDICINE. 



ver on the mud or the sand under the bank, and if the 

 " sign" was fresh, set the trap in the run of the animal, 

 hiding it under water, and attaching it by a stout chain 

 to a picket driven in the bank, or to a bush or tree. A 

 " float-stick," was then made fast to the trap, by a cord 

 a few feet long, which, if the animal carried aw.ay the trap, 

 floated on the water, and pointed out its position. The 

 trap was baited with the "medicine" which is prepared 

 from the substance called castor, obtained from the glandu- 

 lous pouches of the male animal. The contents of five or 

 BIX castor bags are mixed with a nutmeg, twelve or fifteen 

 cloves, and thirty grains of cinnamon in fine powder, and 

 then the whole is stirred up with as much whiskey as will 

 give it the consistence of mixed mustard. This prepara- 

 tion must be kept closely corked up, and in four or five 

 days, the odor becomes more powerful. As I had often 

 observed, this "medicine," smeared upon the bits, of 

 wood, with which the traps are baited, will attract the 

 beaver from a great distance. Wishing to make a close 

 inspection, the animal puts its legs into the trap, and is 

 caught. 



When I discovered a beaver lodge, I set the trap at 

 the edge of the dam, at the point where the animal passes 

 from deep to shoal water, and always beneath the sur- 

 face. Early in the morning, I mounted young Oregon, 

 and rode out to examine my traps. When successful, I 



