232 APPENDIX, 



as I have before observed, quite contrary to fact and common sense, 

 as it would render their houses of no use to them, either as places of 

 shelter from the inclemency of the extreme cold in Winter, or as a 

 retreat from their common enemy the quiquehatch. The only thing 

 that could have made M, Du Pratz, and other French writers, con- 

 jecture that such a thing did exist, must have been from having 

 seen some old beaver houses which had been taken by the Indians ; 

 for they are always obliged to make a hole in one side of the house 

 before they can drive them out ; and it is more than probable that 

 in so mild a climate as Canada, the Indians do generally make those 

 holes on the land-side*, which without doubt gave rise to the 

 suggestion. 



In respect to the beaver dunging in their houses, as some persons 

 assert, it is quite wrong as they always plunge into the water to do 

 it. I am the better enabled to make this assertion, from having 

 kept several of them till they became so domesticated as to answer 

 to their name, and follow those to whom they were ai:ustomed, in 

 the same manner as a dog would do ; and they were as much 

 pleased at being fondled, as any animal I ever saw. I had a house 

 built for them, and a small piece of water before the door, into which 

 they always plunged when they wanted to ease nature ; and their 

 dung being of a light substance, immediately rises and floats on the 

 surface, then separates and subsides to the bottom. When the Winter 

 sets in so as to freeze the water solid, they still continue their cus- 

 tom of coming out of their house, and dunging and making water 

 on the ice ; and when the weather was so cold that I was obliged to 

 take them into my house, they always went into a large tub of water 

 which I set for that purpose : so that they made not the least dirt, 

 though they were kept in my own sitting room, where they were the 

 constant companions of the Indian women and children, and were so 

 fond of their company, that when the Indians were absent for anj^ 

 considerable time, the beaver discovered great signs of uneasiness, 



* The Northern Indians think that the sagacity of the beaver directs them to make that 

 part of their house which fronts the North much thicker than any other part, with a view of 

 defending themselves from the cold winds which generally blow from that quarter during 

 the Winter ; and for this reason the Northern Indians generally break open that side of the 

 beaver-houses which exactlv front the South. 



