'the common beaver. 410 



a colony of Beavers, to many of whose operations 

 he was himself a witness. This is in some respects 

 contradictory to that of Captain Cartwright ; I have 

 therefore no alternative but to give the sense of the 

 writer, and leave the matter undecided *. 



At the head of one of the rivers of Louisiana, in 

 a very retired place, M. Du Pratz found a Beaver 

 dam. Not far from it, but hidden from the sight 

 of the animals, he and his companions erected their 

 hut, in order to watch the operations at leisure^ 

 They waited till the moon shone pretty bright ; and 

 then, carrying branches of trees in their front to 

 conceal themselves, they went with great care and 

 silence to the dam. Du Pratz ordered one of the 

 men to cut, as silently as possible, a gutter, about 

 a foot wide, through it ; and retire immediately to 

 the hiding place. 



" As soon as the water through the gutter began 

 to make a . noise, (says our writer,) we heard a 

 Beaver come from one of the huts and plunge 

 in. We saw him get upon the bank, and clearly 

 perceived that he examined it. He then* with all 

 his force, gave four distinct blows with his tail ; when 

 immediately the whole colony threw themselves into 

 the water, and arrived upon the dam. When they 

 were all assembled, one of them appeared, by mut- 

 tering, to issue some kind of orders ; tor they all in- 



' Du Pratz \vas settled sixteen years as a planter in Louisiana, and 

 therefore must have had sufficient means of ascertaining the man- 

 nrrs of these ruiiinals. 



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