152 



THE GNAWERS OR RODENTS. 



Beavers live in holes, which are dug out 

 on the banks of rivers, and have their entrance 

 under the water like those of otters. From 

 the entrance a tunnel leads obliquely upwards 

 to a chamber which lies above the level of 

 high water and to which air is admitted by 

 a narrow opening. In retired places they 

 build dams across the streams out of the 

 trunks of trees, which are driven into the 

 ground and have their branches consolidated 

 by earth. In this manner they convert 

 streams into a series of pools with a constant 

 level. In front of these dams they construct 

 out of clay regular fortresses with arched 

 roofs, which have the entrances under the 

 water, and in addition to the warmly lined 

 dwelling -chambers contain also provision 

 rooms. The beavers are extraordinarily 

 expert in the use of their fore-feet and teeth 

 in the working up of the various materials 

 which they carry or drag to the desired place, 

 waddling on erect on their hind-feet as they 

 do so. In the construction of these dams 

 and dwellings the beaver undoubtedly reveals 

 a decided mental superiority to other rodents. 

 Its flesh, which was regarded as one of the 

 meats that might be used during fasts, is 

 very palatable, and the tail is considered a 

 delicacy. 



The beaver is generally caught in traps. 

 America yields about 100,000 skins yearly. 

 The castoreum is in high esteem ; it is almost 

 ten times as valuable as the fur. There are 

 some Indian tribes which live almost ex- 

 clusively by catching the beaver. 



[The following extracts, besides furnishing some 

 further details of interest regarding the habits of 

 the beaver and its trapping in older days, show at 

 least that some of the generally received accounts 

 of this animal do not apply to its behaviour in all 

 parts of the region inhabited by it even in North 

 America : — 



"In regard to the beavers' houses, I am forced 

 to come to the conclusion, either that travellers 

 who have written regarding the beaver in the 

 country east of the Rocky Mountains, have woe- 

 fully taken advantage of a traveller's license, have 



listened to mere hearsay wonders without seeing 

 for themselves, or that the habits of the beaver 

 differ much in different parts of the country. 



" It is only after they have been pointed out to 

 you that the 'houses' can be recognized, as they 

 seem like loose bundles of sticks lying on the water. 

 In a recent account of the beaver in the British 

 provinces in North America by an anonymous 

 writer, the houses are described as being exactly 

 the same as I have seen them in the West, and not 

 plastered domes. The vigilance of the little builders 

 is so great that it is rarely, unless closely watched 

 for a long time, that they can be seen. A passing 

 traveller rarely surprises them at work. . . . The 

 only approach to plastering their houses which I 

 have observed is its giving a self-satisfied 'clap' 

 of the tail on laying down its load. . . . 



"In winter they have a store of food secured at 

 some convenient distance from their abodes?- When 

 they require any they start off to get it. They do 

 not eat there, but bring it to their house, and 

 there make their meal. Of the almost human 

 intelligence of the ' thinking beaver ' the stories are 

 innumerable; but many of them are much exag- 

 gerated, or even fabulous (such as Buffon's account). 

 The following is tolerably well authenticated, my 

 informants vouching for the accuracy of it. In a 

 creek about four miles above the mouth of Quesnelle 

 River, in British Columbia, some miners broke 

 down a dam in the course of the operation for 

 making a ditch, at the same time erecting a wheel 

 to force up the water. Beavers abounded on this 

 stream, and found themselves much inconvenienced 

 by these proceedings. Accordingly, it is said that, 

 in order to stop the wheel, the beavers placed a 

 stick between the flappers in such a way as to stop 

 the revolutions of the wheel. This was so continu- 

 ally repeated night after night, and was so artfully 

 performed, as to preclude the possibility of its 

 being accidental. . . . 



" When beaver was 30J. per lb. Rocky Mountain 

 beavers were piled up on each side of a trade-gun 

 until they were on a level with the muzzle, and 

 this was the price! The muskets cost in England 

 some \t>s. These were the days of the free trapper 

 — joyous, brave, generous, and reckless — the hero 

 of romance, round whom many a tale of daring 

 circles, the love of the Indian damsel, the beau 

 ideal of a man in the eyes of the half-breed, whose 



1 Mr. Green, the writer of the communication from the notes to 

 which these extracts are taken, states that one day's supply of sticks 

 for a single beaver would fill a house. 



