MAMMALIA— BEAVER. 229 



to decrease. The same observation holds with respect to the Old Conti- 

 nent : we never find them numerous but in the more northern countries ; 

 and in France, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Egypt, they are exceedingly rare. 

 They formerly inhabited both England and Wales, but have long been 

 extinct in both. Giraldus Cambrensis states them to have frequented the 

 river Tievi, in Cardiganshire. They must, however, have been uncommon, 

 as, in the tenth century, the Welsh laws valued a beaver skin at the enor- 

 mous sum of a hundred and twenty pence. The ancients knev.' them; and 

 by the religion of the Magi it was forbidden to kill them. 



Several authors have said, that the beaver, being an aquatic animal, could 

 not live solely on land. This opinion, however, is erroneous ; for the bea- 

 ver which was mentioned in a preceding paragraph, having been taken 

 when quite young in Canada, and always reared in the house, did not knoAV 

 the water Avhen he was brought to it, was afraid of it, and refused to go into 

 it. Even when first plunged into a basin, there was a necessity for keeping 

 him in it by force. A few minutes after, nevertheless, he became so well 

 reconciled to it, that he no longer showed an aversion to his new situation ; 

 and, when afterwards left to his liberty, he frequently returned to it of him- 

 self, and would even roll about in the dirt, and upon the wet pavement. 

 One day he made his escape, and descended by a cellar staircase into the 

 quarries under the Royal Garden. There he swam to a considerable dis- 

 tance on the stagnated waters which are at the bottom of those quarries ; 

 yet no sooner did he see the light of the torches which were ordered down 

 for the purpose of finding him, than he returned, and allowed himself to be 

 taken without making the smallest resistance. 



He is an animal familiar without being fawning ; and when he sees people 

 at table, he is sure to ask for something to eat. This he does by a little 

 plaintive cry, and by a few gestures of his fore paws. When he has obtain- 

 ed a morsel, he carries it aAvay, and conceals himself, in order to eat it at 

 his ease. In several instances he has been completely domesticated, and 

 become as docile as a dog. When he sleeps, which he does very often, he 

 lies upon his belly. No food comes amiss to him, meat excepted ; and this 

 he constantly refuses, either raw or boiled. He gnaws every thing he comes 

 near; and it was found necessary to line with tin the tun in which he was 

 brought over. 



Independently of the fur, which is indeed the most valuable article fur- 

 nished by the beaver, this animal furnishes a substance that has been con- 

 siderably used in medicine. This substance is known by the name of 

 castor. The savages, it is said, obtain an oil from the tail of the beaver, 

 which they employ as a topical remedy for different complaints. The flesh 

 of this animal, though fat and delicate, is yet bitter, and disagreeable to the 

 palate. 



There are two kinds of hair on the skin of the beaver ; that next the skin 

 is short, and as fine as down ; the upper coat is more scanty, thicker, and 



