174 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



construction were often three inches in diamotcr, and the 

 country above, on either side, flooded to the extent of 

 nearly two feet, covering about one thousand acres of 

 meadow land. These dams possess great strength and 

 dural)ility. In old and deserted works trees spring from 

 the soil, which is plentifully mixed with the brushwood 

 and grass covers the embankment.* Many such monu- 

 ments of the former labours of the beaver are to be seen 

 in Nova Scotia, in districts long since untenanted. 



As the beaver residing on the lakes does not build a 

 I dam in the vicinity of his dwelling, the reason of the 



strong instinct implanted in this animal to j)roduce these 

 marvellous constructions under other circumstances be- 

 comes apparent.f Whenever, from the situation or nature 

 of the water, there is a iirobability of the supply becom- 

 ing shortened by drought, and to ensure sufficient water 

 * to enter his dwelling from beneath the ice in winter, the 

 beaver constructs a dam below to maintain the supply of 

 water necessary to meet either of these contingencies. 

 In former years, when beaver abounded in all j)<irts of 



* Mr. Tliomps.)!!, whose writings are preserved in Canada as most valualde 

 and authentic, speaking of a beaver-dam which he saw, states : " On a tine 

 afternoon in October, 1794, the leaves beginning to fall with every breeze, 

 my guide informed me tliat we should have to pass over a long beaver-dam. 

 I naturally expected that we should have to lead our horses carefully over it. 

 Wh(;n we came to it, we found it a stripe of a2)parently old solid ground, 

 covered wdth short grass, and wide enough for two horses to walk abreast. 

 \ The lower side showed a descent of seven feet, and steep, with a rill of 



j water from beneath it ; the side of tlie dam next the water was a gentle 



slope. To the southward was a slieet of water of about one mile and a half 

 s(j^uare, surrounded by low grassy banks. The forests were mostly of poplar 

 and aspen, with numerous stumps of the trees cut down, and partly carried 

 away by the beavers. In two places of tliis pond were a cluster of beaver- 

 houres like miniature villages." 



t I have, however, seen the outlet of very small lakes dammed up, 

 evidently to raise the level of the surface to some eligible site near the 

 margin, which has offered some advantage or other. 



