'The Builders. 87 



the foundation, which is from three to five feet broad. 

 Sticks, driftwood, and stout poles, wliich the beavers 

 cut on the banks, are piled on this and weighted with 

 stones and mud. The stones are rolled in from the 

 bank or moved considerable distances under water. 

 The mud is carried in the beaver's paws, which he 

 holds up against his chin so as to carry a big handful 

 without spilling. Beavers love such streams, with 

 their alder shade and sweet grasses and fringe of 

 wild meadow, better than all other places. And, by 

 the way, most of the natural meadows and half the 

 ponds of New England were made by beavers. If 

 you go to the foot of any little meadow in the woods 

 and dig at the lower end, where the stream goes out, 

 you will find, sometimes ten feet under the surface, 

 the remains of the first clam that formed the meadow 

 when the water flowed back and killed the trees. 



The second kind of dam is for swift streams. Stout, 

 ten-foot brush is the chief material. The brush is 

 floated down to the spot selected ; the tops are 

 weighted down with stones, and the butts left free, 

 pointing down stream. Such dams must be built out 

 from the sides, of course. They are generally arched, 

 the convex side being up stream so as to make a 

 stronger structure. When the arch closes in the mid- 

 dle, the lower side of the dam is banked heavily with 

 earth and stones. That is shrewd policy on the bea- 



