182 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



of the trowel story. That, and the assertion that the 

 tail is likewise used as a vehicle for materials, may be 

 considered as exploded notions. 



The food of the beaver co^isists of the bark of several 

 varieties of willow, of poplar, and birch ; tlicy also feed 

 constantly during summer on the roots and tendrils of 

 the yellow pond lily (Nuphar advena). They feed in the 

 evening and throughout the night. For winter supplies 

 the saplings of the above-mentioned trees are cut into 

 lengtlis of two or three feet, and planted in the mud 

 outside the house. Lengths are brought in and the bark 

 devoured in the hall, never on the couch, and when 

 peeled, the sticks are towed outside and used in the spring 

 to repair the house. 



The house is approached from the water by long 

 trenches, hollowed out to a considerable depth in the 

 bottom of the lalce or brook. In these are piled their 

 winter stock of food, short lengths of willow and poplar, 

 which, if left sticking in the mud at the ordinary level of 

 the bottom below the suiface, would become im'pacted in 

 the ice. The beaver travels a lonir distance from his 

 house in search of materials, both for building and food. 

 I saw the stumps of small trees, which had been felled at 

 least three-quarters of a milo, from the house. Their 

 towing power in the water, and that of traction on dry 

 land, is astonishing. The following is rather a good 

 story of their coolness and enterprise, told me by a friend, 

 who was a witness to the fact. It occurred at a little 

 lake near the head waters of Roseway river. Having 

 constructed a raft for the purpose of poling round the 

 edge of the lake, to get at the houses of the beaver, which 

 were built in a swampy savannah otherwise inaccessible, 



