AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 



AUTHENTIC HISTORY OF THE BEAVER. 



"The Beaver dams differ in shape according to the na- 

 ture of the place in which they are built. If the water in 

 the river or creek have but little motion, the dam is almost 

 straight; but when the current is more rapid, it is always 

 made with a considerable curve convex toward the stream. 

 The materials made use of in those dams are drift-wood, 

 green willows, birch, and poplars, if they can be got; also 

 mud and stones, intermixed in such a manner as must evi- 

 dently contribute to the strength of the dam; but in these 

 dams there is no other order or method observed, except 

 that of the work being carried on with a regular sweep, 

 and all the parts being made of equal strength. 



" In places which have been long frequented by Beaver 

 undisturbed, their dams, by frequent repairing, become a 

 solid bank, capable of resisting a great force both of water 

 and ice; and as the willow, poplar, and birch generally 

 take root and shoot up, they by degrees form a kind of 

 regular-planted hedge, which I have seen in some places 

 so tall, that birds have built their nests, among the 

 branches. 



" The situation of the Beaver houses is various. Where 

 the Beavers are numerous they are found to inhabit lakes, 

 ponds, and rivers, as well as those narrow creeks which 

 connect the numerous lakes with which this country 

 abounds; but the two latter are generally chosen by them 

 when the depth of water and other circumstances are suit- 

 able, as they have then the advantage of a current to con- 

 vey wood and other necessaries to their habitations, and 

 because, in general they are more difficult to be taken, 

 than those that are built in standing water. 



"There is no one particular part of a lake, pond, river, 

 or creek, of which the Beavers make choice for building 

 their houses on, in preference to another; for they some- 

 times build on points, sometimes in the hollow of a bay, 

 and often on small islands; they always choose, however, 

 those parts that have such a depth of water as will resist 

 the frost of winter, and prevent it from freezing to the 

 bottom. 



" The Beaver that build their houses in small rivers 

 or creeks, in which the water is liable to be drained off 

 when the back supplies are dried up by the frost, are won- 

 derfully taught by instinct to provide against that evil, by 

 making a dam quite across the river, at a convenient dis- 

 tance from their houses. This I look upon as the most 

 curious piece of workmanship that is performed by the 

 Beaver; not so much for the neatness of the work, as for 

 its strength and real service; and at the same time it dis- 

 covers such a degree of sagacity and foresight in the 

 animal, of approaching evils, as is little inferior to that 



FICTITIOUS HISTORY OF THE BEAVER. 



" In the operation of constructing their dams, some 

 Beavers are engaged in cutting down large trees for the 

 purpose, while others traverse the vicinity of the river and 

 cut smaller trees, some as thick as one's leg, and others as 

 large as the thigh. They trim these and gnaw them in two 

 at a certain height to make stakes: they bring these pieces 

 first by land to the edge of the stream, and there float them 

 to the dam; they then form a sort of close piling, which is 

 still farther strengthened by interlacing the branches be- 

 tween the stakes. This operation supposes many difficul- 

 ties vanquished; for to prepare these stakes, and place them 

 in a nearly perpendicular situation, they must raise the large 

 end of the stake upon the bank of the river, or against a 

 tree thrown across it, while others at the same time plunge 

 into the water and dig a hole with their fore feet for the 

 purpose of receiving the point of the stake or pile, in or- 

 der to sustain it erect. In proportion as some thus plant 

 the piles, others bring earth, which they temper with their 

 fore-feet and beat with their tails; they carry it in their 

 mouths and with their fore-feet, and convey so large a 

 quantity that they fill all the intervals of the piling. This 

 pile work is composed of several ranges of stakes of equal 

 height, all planted against each other, extending from one 

 side of the river to the other; it is piled and plastered 

 throughout. The piles are planted vertically on the side 

 next the water-fall; the whole work is sloping on the side 

 sustaining the pressure, so that the dam, which is ten or 

 twelve feet wide at base, is only two or three feet, thick at 

 the summit. It has therefore not only all the solidity ne- 

 cessary, but the most convenient form for raising the wa- 

 ter, preventing it from escaping, sustaining its weight, and 

 breaking its violence. At the top of the dam, that is at the 

 thinnest part, they make two or three sloped openings for 

 the discharge of the superfluous water, and these are en- 

 larged or closed up as the river swells or diminishes, &c. 



" It would be superfluous after such an exposition of their 

 public works, to give a detail of their private edifices, if in 

 a history it were not necessary to relate all the facts, and 

 if this first great work were not done with a view to render 

 their little dwellings more commodious. These dwellings 

 are cabins, or rather little houses, built in the water on 

 close piles, near the edge of the pond, having two doors or 

 issues, one on the land and the other on the water side. 

 Sometimes they are found to have two or three stories, 

 the walls being as much as two feet thick, elevated perpen- 

 dicularly upon the piles which serve at the same time for 

 the foundation and floor of the house, &c. The walls are 

 covered with a sort of stucco, so well tempered, and so 

 properly applied, that it appears as if it had been done by 



