THE CABINET OP NATURAL HISTORY, 



AUTHENTIC HISTORY— Continued. 



of the human species, and is certainly peculiar to those 

 animals. 



"Though the Beaver which build their houses in lakes 

 and other standing waters, may enjoy a sufficient quantity 

 of their favourite element without the assistance of a dam, 

 the trouble of getting wood and other necessaries to their 

 habitations without the help of a current, must in some 

 measure counterbalance the other advantages which are 

 reaped from such a situation ; for it must be observed that 

 the Beaver which build in rivers and creeks, always cut 

 their wood above their houses, so that the current, with 

 little trouble, conveys it to the place required. 



"The Beaver houses are built of the same materials as 

 their dams, and are always proportioned in size to the 

 number of inhabitants, which seldom exceed four old, and 

 six or eight young ones; though, by chance, I have seen 

 above double that number. 



"These houses, though not altogether unworthy of ad- 

 miration, fall very short of the general description given 

 of them; for instead of order or regulation being ob- 

 served in rearing them, they are of a much ruder structure 

 than their dams. 



"Those who have undertaken to describe the inside of 

 Beaver houses, as having several apartments appropriated 

 to various uses; such as eating, sleeping, store-houses for 

 provisions, and one for their natural occasions, &c, must 

 have been very little acquainted with the subject; or, 

 which is still worse, guilty of attempting to impose on the 

 credulous, by representing the greatest falsehoods as real 

 facts. Many years constant residence among the Indians, 

 during which I had an opportunity of seeing several hun- 

 dreds of those houses, has enabled me to affirm that every 

 thing of the kind is entirely void of truth; for, notwith- 

 standing the sagacity of those animals, it has never been 

 observed that they aim at any other conveniences in their 

 houses, than to have a dry place to lie on; and there they 

 usually eat their victuals, which they occasionally take 

 out of the water. 



"It frequently happens, that some of the large houses 

 are found to have one or more partitions, if they deserve 

 that appellation; but that is no more than a part of the 

 main building, left by the sagacity of the Beaver to sup- 

 port the roof. On such occasions it is common for those 

 different apartments, as some are pleased to call them, to 

 have no communication with each other but by water; so 

 that in fact they may be called double or treble houses, 

 rather than different apartments of the same house. I 

 have seen a large Beaver house built in a small island, that 

 had near a dozen apartments under one roof: and, two or 



FICTITIOUS HISTORY— Continued. 



human hands. Their tail serves them as a trowel for ap- 

 plying this mortar, which they temper with their feet, &c. 



" These retreats are not only very secure, but also very 

 neat and commodious; the floor is strewed with verdure; 

 boughs of box and fir serve for a carpet, upon which they 

 never leave the least dirt. The window which looks out 

 upon the water serves them for a balcony for the enjoy- 

 ment of the air, or to bathe during the greater part of the 

 day. They sit with the head and anterior parts of the 

 body elevated and the posterior plunged in water; the 

 opening is sufficiently elevated never to be closed by the 

 ice, which in the climates where the Beavers reside, is 

 sometimes three feet thick; they then lower the shelf by 

 cutting the piles upon which it rested aslope, and make an 

 opening into the water below the ice!! 



"The habit which they have of continually retaining the 

 tail and hinder parts in the water, appears to have changed 

 the nature of their flesh. Thus the fore parts, as far as to 

 the loins, has the quality, taste, and consistence of land 

 animals; that of the thighs and the tail has the odour, sa- 

 vour, and all the qualities offish; this tail, a foot long, an 

 inch thick, and five or six broad, is really an extremity, a 

 true portion of a fish attached to the body of a quadruped. 



"However admirable, or marvellous the statements we 

 have made on the labours and society of the Beaver may 

 appear, we dare to say that no one will doubt their reality. 

 All the relations made by different witnesses, at various 

 times, agree together as to the facts we have related; and 

 if our statement differ from some among them, it is only 

 at points where they have swelled the marvellous, sur- 

 passed the truth, and even transcended probability !" — Buf- 

 fon's Nat. Hist. 



" Beavers are most industrious animals; nothing equals 

 the art with which they construct their dwellings. They 

 choose a small piece of ground with a rivulet running 

 through it. This they form into a pond by making a dam 

 across, first by driving into the ground stakes five or six 

 feet long, placed in rows, walling each row with pliant 

 twigs, and filling the interstices with clay, ramming it 

 down close." — Pennant's History of Quadrupeds. 



"They have a chief or superintendent in their works, 

 who directs the whole. The utmost attention is paid to 

 him by the whole community. Every individual has his 

 task allotted, which they undertake with the utmost alacrity. 

 The overseer gives a signal, by a certain number of smart 

 slaps with his tail, expressive of his orders. The moment 

 the artificers hear it they hasten to the place thus pointed 



