CHAPTER XIII. 



Attempts to Preserve the European Beaver — Tame Beavers — The 

 Marouis of Bute's Beaver Coi^ony — Beaver Hunting Grounds 

 OE The Indians — The Hudson's Bay Beaver Reserves — "Beaver 

 Farming " — Life in Zoologicae Gardens. 



From the earliest history of the beaver in the Old World, which 

 was w^ritten at the time when civilization had alread}' made much 

 headway, and was still spreading over Europe in great waves, over- 

 whelming barbarism and effacing primeval nature forever within its 

 limits, we gather that the preservation of the beaver from the de- 

 struction which appeared imminent, was a matter of much moment. 



As late as the reign of Frederick the Great, of Prussia, (1712- 

 1788), beavers were gathered together for this purpose, but as in 

 every former instance, the enterprise was a failure, and the life of the 

 European beaver was not in the least extended by this experiment. 

 Some reason must be found for the failure to protect the beaver satis- 

 factorily, and investigation into the matter might be profitable. 

 The 5'oung beaver is easily tamed ; beavers are frequently brought 

 alive into our settlements, and are often made pets of, and allowed 

 the liberties usually afforded to our domestic guardian, the dog. 

 The number of individual cases recorded, if merely scheduled, would 

 make a full chapter, and it would fill a portly volume to do justice 

 to the many eccentric performances of these pets. The legs of tables 

 and chairs soon attract the beaver as suitable substitutes for the deli- 

 cate undergrowth of the forest, and boots and shoes, brushes, books, 

 and other small articles, both ornamental and useful, ser\^e to dam 

 up the doorway, or to form a lodge under the bed or some other 

 article of furniture ; each work showing distinctly the instinct to 

 build. So little choice of material do thej^ seem to exerci.se, that 



