156 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 



tameness, the people who came to this " fish and 

 game preserve, health resort and pleasure ground " 

 should have an opportunity of seeing the wild animals, 

 the most interesting of all being the beaver, whose 

 works are a positive education for young and old. 

 But these people, of whom I have met many, are 

 filled with disappointment and disgust when they 

 are shown abandoned dams and lodges close to the 

 resorts (within a few hundred yards of hotels and 

 camps) and are told that the builders themselves 

 have been trapped and either killed or sent away 

 to zoological gardens or other parts. Such treat- 

 ment is scarcely fair to the people and cannot be 

 considered wise. The country is certainly rich 

 enough to support the parks without the necessity 

 of getting money from the sale of the animals 

 which the people would far rather see alive and in 

 their natural conditions than in ' ' returns for sale 

 of skins." But the second objection is even more 

 far-reaching though more subtle, because people 

 do not generally grasp its significance. The trapper 

 is told that the beaver are absolutely protected by 

 law and that to kill one involves the offender in 

 serious trouble, such as imprisonment, fine and 

 confiscation of his traps. In other words, by strict 

 Government orders beaver may not be killed. 

 These trappers are usually men of fair-play who 

 understand rude justice better than obscure reason- 

 ings. They believe that what is food for the goose 

 is food for the gander, and that if they, who trap 



