216 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
the stream is divided by islands. At high tide these backwaters 
become united with the main stream. In time of flood the Aa 
inundates the district round for a verst or more, and forests 
meadows, pools, &c., are united into one vast lake. In former 
times the flooding of the river was no doubt greatly increased by 
the numerous Beaver-dams. Thus undisturbed, and with natural 
surroundings most favourable to their mode of life, the Beavers 
lived securely. 
Many of the old inhabitants assured me, some years ago, that 
Beavers used, within their recollection, to appear frequently on 
the Luhde-Trikatenish Aa. They had themselves seen and 
hunted them, and had admired the felled trees, gnawed into 
conical points; the Beavers making use chiefly of the aspen, 
willow, lime, and maple. 
In 1818 the ignorant peasants—poachers, in fact—used to sell 
the castoreum to the druggists at Walk for absurdly low prices; 
for example, the druggist Riicker, who is still living, paid for one 
loth (equal to half an ounce) of castoreum, one rouble, 27-28 
copecks, silver money.* 
But their doom was approaching with giant strides the happy 
Beavers of the Aa. The druggists of Dorpat, Wolmar, Fellin, &c., 
sent large orders to Walk at high prices. This encouraged the 
evil doing of the poacher—and at that time every peasant was 
one. Every man who could obtain a trap or a gun went, in his 
leisure time, to the woods by the romantically situated Aa. It was 
only possible to shoot the Beavers at night; and consequently 
whilst bad shots, with worse fire-arms, killed but few in the dark- 
ness, they nevertheless wounded a great many, and these died 
miserably and painfully in the wilderness, to the benefit of no one. 
It seems almost incredible that not a single magistrate, land- 
owner, or other authority, should have taken notice of these 
senseless and barbarous doings; that no one should have put a 
stop to this wasteful massacre, this extermination of a creature 
already too rare. In the course of twelve years, through base 
love of gain and unheard of carelessness, even the few remaining 
Livonian Beavers were utterly destroyed. In 1832, after an 
interval of two years, the druggists at Walk received the last pair 
of castoreum-sacs from indigenous Beavers; the weight of this 
pair was twenty-two loth, and they realised fifteen roubles per loth. 
* 100 copecks = 1 rouble = 3 shillings. 
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