232 THE INDUSTRIES OF ANIMALS. 



the artificial pond. A passage sinks in the earth and 

 opens about one and a half metres below the level of 

 the water, so that it cannot be closed up by ice during 

 the severe winters of these regions. 



Within, near the entry, the beavers form, with the 

 aid of a partition, a special compartment to serve as a 

 storehouse, and they there pile up enormous heaps of 

 nenuphar roots as provisions for the days when ice and 

 snow will prevent them from barking the young trunks. 



A dwelling of this kind may last for three or four 

 years, and the animal here tranquilly enjoys the fruits 

 of its industry, as long as man fails to discover the 

 retreat ; for the beaver can escape by swimming from 

 all carnivorous animals excepting, perhaps, the Otter. 

 During floods the level of the water nearly reaches the 

 hut; if the inundation is prolonged and the animal 

 runs the risk of being asphyxiated beneath his dome, 

 it breaks through the upper part with its teeth and 

 escapes. When the water returns to its bed the 

 beaver comes back, makes the necessary repairs, and 

 resumes the usual peaceful course of its life.^ 



We have thus seen, from a shapeless hole to these 

 complex dwellings, every possible stage ; we have 

 found among animals the rudiments of the different 

 human habitations, certain animals, indeed, having 

 arrived at a degree of civilisation which Man himself 

 in some countries has not yet surpassed, or even 

 indeed yet attained. 



' The Beaver has been fully studied by Lewis II. Morgan, The 

 American Beaver, 1868. See also Horace T. Martin's recent work, 

 Casiorologia, or the History and Traditions of the Canadian Beaver, 

 1892; in an appendix to this work will be found Samuel Hearne's 

 classical account of the Beaver, written nearly two hundred years ago, 

 and free from the many exaggerations and superstitions which have 

 grown up around this animal. 



