AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



AUTII ENTIC HISTORY— Continued. 



FICTITIOUS HISTORY— Continued. 



three of these only excepted, none of them had any com- 

 munication with each other but by water. As there were 

 Beaver enough to inhabit each apartment, it is more than 

 probable that each family knew its own, and always en- 

 tered at theii' own door, without having any further con- 

 nexion with their neighbours than a friendly intercourse; 

 and to join their united labours in erecting their separate 

 habitations, and building their dams where required. It is 

 difficult to say whether their interest on other occasions 

 was any ways reciprocal. The Indians of my party killed 

 twelve old Beaver, and twenty-five young and half-grown 

 ones out of the house above mentioned ; and on examina- 

 tion found that several had escaped their vigilance, and 

 could not be taken but at the expense of more trouble 

 than would be sufficient to take double the number in a 

 less difficult situation. The difficulty here alluded to, was 

 the numberless vaults the Beaver had in the sides of the 

 pond, and the immense thickness of the house in some 

 parts. 



" Travellers who assert that the Beaver have two doors 

 to their houses, one on the land side, and the other next 

 the water, seem to be less acquainted with those animals 

 than others who assign them an elegant suite of apart- 

 ments. Such a proceeding would be quite contrary to 

 their manner of life, and at the same time would render 

 their houses of no use, either to protect them from their 

 enemies, or guard them against the extreme cold in 

 winter. 



"The quiquehatches, or wolvereens, are great enemies 

 to the Beaver; and if there were a passage into their houses 

 on the land side, would not leave one of them alive where- 

 ever they came. 



" I cannot refrain from smiling, when I read the ac- 

 counts of different authors who have written on the econo- 

 my of those animals, as there seems to be a contest be- 

 tween them, who shall most exceed in fiction. But the 

 compiler of the wonders of nature and art seems, in my 

 opinion, to have succeeded best in this respect; as he has 

 not only collected all the fictions into which other writers 

 on the subject have run, but has so greatly improved on 

 them, that little remains to be added to his account of the 

 Beaver, beside a vocabulary of their language, a code of 

 their laws, and a sketch of their religion, to make it the 

 most complete natural history of that animal which can 

 possibly be offered to the public. 



"There cannot be a greater imposition, or indeed a 

 grosser insult, on 'common understanding, than the wish 

 to make us believe the stories of some of the works as- 

 cribed to the Beaver; and though it is not to be supposed 



B 



out, and perform tne allotted labour, whether it is to carry 

 wood, or draw, or repair any accidental breach . They have 

 also their sentinels, who, by the same kind of signal, give 

 notice of any apprehended danger. They are said to have 

 a sort of slavish Beaver among them (analogous to the 

 drone) which they employ in servile works and domestic 

 drudgery." — Pennant's Jlrctic Zoology. 



" The Castor, or Beaver, when in the rivers, feeds upon 

 shell-fish, and such other prey as it can catch. This va- 

 riety of food is the reason why its hinder parts, to the ribs, 

 have the taste of fish, and that they are eaten upon fast 

 days, and all the rest has the taste of flesh, so that it is not 

 used at other times. 



" It has pretty large teeth, the under standing out be- 

 yond their lips about three fingers breadth; the upper about 

 half a finger, being very broad, crooked, strong and sharp, 

 growing double, very deep in their mouths, bending circu- 

 lar, like the edge of an axe, and are of a yellowish red. 

 They take fishes upon them as if they were hooks, being 

 able to break in pieces the hardest bones. When he bites 

 he never loses his hold until his teeth meet together. The 

 bristles about their mouths are as hard as horns; their bones 

 are solid and without marrow; their fore feet are like a 

 dog's, and their hinder like a swan's. Their tail is covered 

 over with scales, being, like a soal, about six inches broad 

 and ten inches long, which he uses as a rudder to steer 

 with when he swims to catch fish; and though his teeth 

 are so terrible, yet when men have seized his tail they 

 can govern the animal as they please. 



"The Beavers make themselves houses of square tim- 

 ber, which they gnaw down with their teeth almost as 

 even as if they were sawed, and almost as equal as if it 

 were measured. They lay these pieces across, and each is 

 let down by large notches into the other, so that, having 

 dug a hole for their foundation, they build several stories, 

 that they may rise higher or lower, according to the fall of 

 water." — Pomet, History of Drugs. 



"Amongst the Beavers some are accounted masters, 

 some servants. They are cleanly in their houses, for the 

 making of which, they draw the timber on the belly of 

 their ancients, they lying on their backs." — Lemery. 



" Three Beavers were seen cutting down a large cotton- 

 wood tree: when they had made considerable progress 

 one of them retired to a short distance and took his station 

 in the water, looking steadfastly at the top of the tree. As 

 soon as he perceived the top of the tree begin to move 



