FAMINE IN BEAVER-LAND 207 
gnawed by the beavers, but for what purpose I 
could not then imagine. 
One crew of loggers had started to work in 
a grove about two hundred feet from the hole 
in the ice. They were cutting aspens that 
were about four inches in diameter and twelve 
feet high. But before dragging them to the 
pond an opening or trailway through the woods 
had been cleared. Every bush in the way was 
cut off, every obstructing log cut in two and the 
ends rolled aside. 
Dragging their tree cuttings to the pond was 
slow, hard work, and it was also dangerous 
work for a slow-moving beaver to go so far from 
the water. A beaver is heavy bodied and short- 
legged. With webbed hind feet he is a speedy 
swimmer, but on land he is a lubber and moves 
slowly and with effort. 
A few days later the purpose of the hole in 
the ice of the frozen pond was made plain. A 
freshly swept trail in the snow led to it out of 
the woods. The beavers were taking their 
green aspen cuttings through the hole into the 
pond for their winter’s food. They had begun 
storing winter food at last. 
I followed the trail back to where a number of 
aspens had been cut. Their stumps were about 
fifteen inches above the snow. Two trees 
still lay where they fell. These were about six 
