104, 
Hew rakeEn. 
Co AS) Say B®, 
Tt is not wonderful that fuch fociable animals-fhould be very affec- 
tionate. Two young Beavers, which were taken alive and brought 
to a neighboring faétory in Hud/on’s Bay, were preferved for fome 
time; and throve very faft, till one of them was killed by an acci-~ 
dent. The furvivor inftantly felt the lofs, began to mean, and ab- 
ftained from food till it died *. 
They are taken feveral ways: fometimes in log-traps, baited with 
poplar fticks, laid in a path near the water. The Judians always 
wafh their hands before they bait the traps, otherwife the fagacious 
animal is fure to fhun the fnare. 
Sometimes they are fhot, either while they are at work, or at food, 
or in fwimming acrofs the rivers. But thefe methods are ufed only 
in fummer, and not much practifed; for the fkins in that feafon are 
far lefs valuable than in the winter. At that time they are taken in 
nets placed above and below their houfes, acrofs the creeks, on ftakes. 
If the water is frozen, the ice is cut from fhore to fhore, in order to 
put down the ftakes. When the net is fet, the Indians fend their 
women to the Beaver-houles to difturb the animals; who dart into 
the water, and are ufually taken in the net, which is inftantly hauled 
up; and put down again with all expedition. If the Beaver miffes 
the net, it fometimes returns to its houfe, but oftener into the vaults 
on the fides of the banks ; but the poor creature feldom efcapes, be- 
ing purfued into all his retreats, the houfes being broke open, and 
the vaults fearched by digging along the fhores. 
The value of the fur of thefe animals, in the manufacture of hats, 
is well known. It began to be in ufe in England in the reign of 
Charles 1.+, when the manufacture was regulated, in 1638, by procla- 
“mation ; in which is an exprefs prohibition of ufing any materials ex- 
cept Beaver jiuff, or Beaver wool; and the hats called demi-caftors 
were forbidden to be made, unlefs for exportation. _ 
This caufed a vaft encreafe of demand for the fkins of the Beavers. 
The Judians, on the difcovery of America, feem to have paid very 
* Drage’s voy. is 151. + Rymer’s Fadera, xX. 230, 
little 
