EARLY NOTICES OP THE BEAVER. 371 



scarcely fail to remind tlie classical philologist of the primary deriTa- 

 tion of the Latin pecunia, the oxen of Homer, and still more of the 

 skin currency of the Carthaginians and Spartans ; while the Biblical 

 student will recall the sneering comment of Satan on the patience of 

 Job : " Skin for skin, yea all that a man hath will he give for his life." 



In the Odahwah language, a dialect of the Ojibway, the beaver is 

 called, Ahnik, — the Ahmeek, king of beavers, of Longfellow's "Song 

 of Hiawatha." So also a beaver dam is ahmikweesTi or ahmikobeeg. 

 No recollection can now be traced of the beaver's tooth having ever 

 been used as a cutting instrument by the Odahwahs ; but one of their 

 superstitions seems to point to such a practice. It was believed that 

 the beaver possessed a piece of brass for the purposes of cutting. This 

 tool was said to resemble a wedge, one side of which was very sharp. 

 Sometimes the most celebrated magicians professed to obtain this 

 instrument from the animal, and it was considered a most invaluable 

 treasure, as it answered as a universal charm in strengthening medicine, 

 obtaining the necessaries and luxuries of life, securing success in hunt- 

 ing, &c. Until very lately these Indians reckoned dollars by the beaver 

 skin, and where the whites say one dollar, two dollars, and so on, the 

 Indians would say, one beaver skin, two beaver skins, &c. Formerly, 

 also, every section of a tribe had its own beaver hunting grounds ; and 

 this property, as it may fitly enough be called, descended from father 

 to son for the benefit of the family exclusively. To encroach upon a 

 beaver ground belonging to another party was looked upon as a serious 

 offence, and the trespasser was liable to lose his life, if caught by the 

 owners of the ground. 



According to Odahwah tradition there was an immense beaver in 

 some part of Lake Superior. The Indians pointed out an Island in the 

 Lake, about two miles long, and one and a third broad, and said that 

 the beaver spoken of was the same size. This story must have been 

 invented very early, because in one of the legends relating to Nanah- 

 bozho, it is told that this extraordinary personage went in one morning 

 to Lake Superior for the purpose of catching a beaver for his breakfast. 

 When he got there he succeeded in dislodging a young beaver from its 

 hiding place, and chased it towards the Sault Ste. Marie, the animal 

 of course came under the water, until it reached the entrance of the 

 river leading from Lake Superior into Lake Huron. Nanahbozho 

 thought that the Sault was an excellent place to catch the beaver, as 

 the water was too shallow to conceal it. So he went there and oc- 



