CASTOROLOGIA. I5I 



over with scales, being, like a soal, about six inches broad and ten 

 inches long, which he uses as a rudder to steer with when he swims 

 to catch fish ; and though his teeth are so terrible, yet when men 

 have seized his tail, they can govern the animal as they please." 



Beltrami, who wrote ' ' I^a Decouverte des Sources du Mississippi, ' ' 

 must have provoked his guides sadly before the following admis- 

 sions were made. ' ' The beavers are divided into tribes, and some- 

 times into small bands only, of which each has its chief, and order 

 and discipline reign there, much more, perhaps, than among the In- 

 dians, or even among civilized nations. Each tribe has its territor5^ 

 If any stranger is caught trespassing, he is brought before the chief, 

 who, for the first offence, punishes him ad corrcdioncm, and for the 

 second, deprives him of his tail, which is the greatest misfortune 

 which can happen to a beaver, for this tail is their cart, upon which 

 they transport, wherever it is desired, mortar, stones, provisions, 

 etc. ; and it is also the trowel, which it resembles in shape, used 

 by them in building. This infraction of the laws of nations is con- 

 sidered among them so great an outrage, that the whole tribe of the 

 mutilated beaver side with him, and set off immediately to take ven- 

 gence for it. In this contest the victorious part}-, using the rights 

 of war, drives the vanquished from their quarters, takes possession 

 of them, and places a provisional garrison, and finally establishes 

 there a colony of young beaver. The ' Great Hare,' at Red Lake, 

 wished to make me believe that, having come to the spot where two 

 tribes of beaver had just been engaged in battle, he found about 

 fifteen dead, or dying on the field ; and other Indians, Sioux and 

 Chippewaj's, have also assured me that they have obtained valuable 

 booty in similar circumstances." 



When such accounts were current and accepted, nay, even 

 expected among the marvellous experiences of those who recorded 

 their adventures, we can understand that it was " difficult for a tra- 

 veller to publish his travels without speaking of the beaver, although 

 he should have travelled only in Africa, where there are none." 



The number of writers on the beaver is legion, while accounts of 



