370 EARLY NOTICES OF THE BEAVER. 



four inches of water on them, and a piece of green aspen for a bait, that ■would 

 allure the beaver to the place of the trap. Various things and mixtures of ingre- 

 dients were tried without success ; but chance made some try if the male could 

 not be caught by adding the oastoreum beat up with the green buds of the aspen. 

 A piece of willow of about eight inches in length, beat and bruised fine, was 

 dipped in this mixture ; it was placed at the water edge about a foot from the 

 steel trap, so that the beaver should pass direct over it and be caught ; this bait 

 proved successful, but to the surprise of the Indians the females were caught as 

 well as the males. The secret of this bait was soon spread ; every Indian procured 

 from the trader four to six steel traps, the weight of one was about six to eight 

 pounds ; all labour was now at an end, the hunter moved about at pleasure, with 

 his traps and infallible bait of castoream. Of the infatuation of this animal for 

 castoreum, I saw several instances. A trap was negligently fastened by its small 

 chain to the stake, to prevent the beaver taking away the trap when ©aught ; ife 

 slipped, and the beaver swam away with the trap, and it was looked upon as lost. 

 Two nights after, he was taken in a trap, with the other trap fast to his thigh. 

 Another time, a beaver passing over a trap to get the castoreum, had his hind leg 

 broken, with his teeth he cut the broken leg off, and went away. We concluded he 

 would not come again, but two nights afterwards, he was found fast in a trap ; la 

 every case tempted by the castoreum. The stick was always licked or sucked clean, 

 and it seemed to act as a soporific, as they remained more than a day without coming 

 out of their houses. The Nepissings, the Algonquins and Iroquois Indians, having 

 exhausted their own districts, now spread themselves over these countries and as 

 they destroyed, the beaver moved forward to the northward and westward. The 

 natives, the Ifapataways did not in the least molest them ; the Chippeways and 

 other tribes made use of traps of steel, and of the castoreum. For several years all 

 those Indians were rich, the women and children, as well as the men were covered 

 with silver brooches, ear-rings, wampum, beads and other triEkets. Their mantles 

 were of fine scarlet cloth, and all was finery and dress. The canoes of the fur 

 trader were loaded with packs of beaver, till the abundance of the article lowered 

 the London pi-ices. Every intelligent man saw the poverty that would follow the de- 

 struction of the beaver, but there were no chiefs to control it i always perfect 

 liberty and equality. Four years after almost the whole of these extensive 

 countries became poor, and with difficulty procured the first necessaries of life, and 

 in this state they remain, and probably for ever. A worn out field may be 

 manured and again made fertile ; but the beaver once destroyed cannot be replaced. 

 They were the gold coin of the country, with which the necessaries of life were 

 purchased. 



This idea of the beaver skins being the current coin, or the dollar 

 bills of the Hudson's Bay territory and the regions surrounding the 

 fur countries, is frequently referred to ; and continued to be the cascj 

 down to very recent years. It is again noticed by Mr. Francis 

 Assikinack, in introducing some notes of the beaver traditions of his 

 own tribe, the Odahwahs, with which he has favoured me. It caa 



