CASTOROI.OGIA. 85 



early missionaries found in the beaver a valuable addition to tbeir 

 " I^enten dietary," but it is a pity that this privilege should have 

 required the belief that the animal lived on fish, for many a one 

 has been destroyed, and the attractions of his skillful labor been 

 effaced, under the supposition that it was necessary to exterminate 

 the beaver in order to preserve the fish. 



Thus far the meat generally, has been referred to without re- 

 garding the delicious morsel which the tail affords. To recognise 

 the high degree in which this dish was appreciated, it is necessary 

 to imagine the limited choice of food, to which the trader was forced 

 to submit while away from civilization, and also to make allowances 

 for the stimulating effect an open-air life would have on the ap- 

 petite. The flavor and appearance resemble that of the choicest 

 bacon, and it is worthy to rank with most modern luxuries, while it 

 may safely be said, that the forests do not furnish its equal as a 

 delicacy. It now only remains to add that in several cases it 

 has happened among the men of trading parties, whose provi- 

 sions were all exhausted, that the bales of beaver skins, have 

 been opened and divided as rations, and when roasted, they 

 appeared to furnish not only sustenance, but were even regarded 

 as a palatable meal. 



When the question of food was a settled matter, the next con- 

 cerns were clothing and shelter, and in both these aspects the beaver 

 has been an important factor. Frequent reference is found to the 

 leather made firom the skin of the beaver, which is described as 

 being very tough and strong, and eminently suitable for the making 

 of moccasins and mittens, though it was of course applied, generally, 

 to such purposes as the making of the ' ' mattas ' ' or leather stock- 

 ing, waist belts and fire-bags, shoulder belts and quivers ; while the 

 toughness of the leather made it very useful when cut into thongs. 

 In places such as the country of the Hurons, where the beaver sup- 

 plied all the wants of the tribe, it is but natural to suppose that its 

 leather would be converted into the "tepee " or tent covering, as in 

 the Buffalo districts where the tents were invariably made of 

 Buffalo leather. 



