APPENDIX. 233 



and on their return shewed equal marks of pleasure by fondling on 

 them, crawling into their laps, laying on their backs, sitting erect 

 like a squirrel, and behaving to them like children who see their 

 parents but seldom. In general during the Winter they lived on 

 the same food as the women did, and were remarkably fond of rice 

 and plum-pudding : they would eat partridges and fresh venison 

 very freely, but I never tried them with fish, though I have heard 

 they will at times prey on them. In fact, there are few of the gran- 

 ivorous animals that may not be brought to be carnivorous. It is 

 well known that our domestic poultrj^ will eat animal food : thou- 

 sands of geese that come to London market are fattened on tallow- 

 craps ; and our horses in Hudson's Bay would not only eat all kinds 

 of animal food, but also drink freely of the wash or pot-liquor, in- 

 tended for the hogs. And we are assured by the most authentic 

 Authors, that in Iceland, not only black cattle, but also the sheep, 

 are almost entirely fed on fish and fish-bones during the Winter 

 season. Even in the Isles of Orkney, and that in Summer, the sheep 

 attend the ebbing of the tide as regular as the Esquimaux curlew, 

 and go down to the shore which the tide has left, to feed on the sea- 

 weed. This, however, is through necessity, for even the famous 

 Island of Pomona* will not afford them an existence above high 

 water-mark. 



With respect to the inferior, or slave-beaver, of which some 

 Authors speak, it is, in my opinion, very diificult for those who are 

 best acquainted with the ceconomy of this animal to determine 

 whether there are any that deserv^e that appellation or not. It some- 

 times happens, that a beaver is caught, which has but a very indif- 

 ferent coat, and which has broad patches on the back, and shoulders 

 almost wholly without hair. This is the only foundation for assert- 

 ing that there is an inferior, or slave-beaver, among them. And 

 when one of the above description is taken, it is perhaps too hastily 

 inferred that the hair is worn off from those parts by carrjdng heavy 

 loads : w^hereas it is most probable that it is caused by a disorder 

 that attacks them somewhat similar to the mange ; for were that 



* This being the largest of the Orkney Islands, is called by the inhabitants the Main 

 I,and. 



