1966 The Zoologist — January, 1870. 



dam. Tn the interior they are almost everywhere abundant and on 

 the increase. In a swampy lake near the mouth of the Cowichan 

 Lake we found many ; and an extensive swamp near the entrance of 

 the Puntledge Lake was a great stronghold. On Young's Creek,* 

 flowing into the same lake, were many dams. In the spring of 1866, 

 when crossing the island from Fort Rupert to the head of Quatseeno 

 Sound with some Indians, a great portion of our route lay among 

 these beaver-ponds and dams. All through this district beavers 

 swarm. The camps of the Indians were full of them ; and the women 

 laid before us the daintiest pieces of the meat, or exhibited to their 

 white visitor all sorts of curiosities in the shape of foetal beavers and 

 beaver's teeth, with which they were gambling, using marked ones in 

 much the same manner as our dice. At the Hudson Bay Company's 

 Fort we lived upon beaver during that spring — beaver roasted and 

 beaver broiled ; beaver tail and beaver joint ; beaver morning, noon 

 and night. In regard to the beavers' houses, I am forced to come to 

 the conclusion either that travj?llers who have written regarding the 

 beaver in the country east of the Rocky Mountains have woefully 

 taken advantage of a traveller's license, have listened to mere hearsay 

 wonders without seeing for themselves, or that the habits of the 

 beaver differ much in different parts of the country. 



It is only after they have been pointed out to you that the 

 "houses" can be recognized, as they seem like loose bundles of 

 sticks lying on the water.f In a recent account of the beaver in the 

 British provinces in South America by an anonymous writer!, the 

 houses are described as being exactly the same as I have seen thera 

 in the West, and not plastered domes. The vigilance of the little 

 builders is so great that it is rarely, unless closely watched for a long 

 time, that they can be seen. A passing traveller rarely surprises them 

 at their work. 



My friend Mr. John Tod, chief trader in the Hon. Hudson's Bay 

 Company's service during a long residence at Fort M'Leod (a post of 

 that Fur Company, situated in the northern portion of British 

 Columbia), has comuuujicated to me his observations, which, differing 

 in some respects, substantiate in the main those of Mr. Green. The 



* See the Hiithor's map and the ineinuii £)j>- Iiiiiere der Vancouver Insel in Peter- 

 manii's Gtoyraphische Miuheilunyen, 18(59, S. 87. 



f The " house " in the Zoological Gardens, London, conesponds wilh this 

 descriiilioii. 



X ' Land and Water,' -March, 1868. 



