THE BEAVERS OF NORTH AMERICA 11 
Others he carried down to the water and swam 
with them to the harvest pile. Nothing must be 
wasted. Every shrub or sapling which obstructed 
the way had to be cut down; if it was not good 
enough for food it could at least be used in the 
construction of house or dam. And the beaver 
continued his work as though he fully realised the 
importance of doing it well and _ thoroughly. 
Occasionally, he was joined by the other members 
of his family, and the big yellow full moon rising 
above the tree tops watched the industrious little 
animals as it had watched their predecessors for 
thousands of years. With each generation the 
same work had been carried on with the same 
persistence, the same regularity and in the same 
way. The only visible change was that in former 
years, before man had begun the work of destroy- 
ing the harmless creatures, and which, since the . 
arrival of the white people of the eastern world, had 
been so ruthlessly carried on, the beavers did their 
wood-cutting and dam-building almost as much by 
daylight as by the light of the stars and moon.* 
But the little fur-bearers had learned gradually 
that the sun was not their friend; it offered them 
no protection from the deadly persecutions of their 
two-footed enemies, and so they had come to work 
only under the friendly cover of darkness, or by the 
* Although James Hearne, who was a most careful observer, 
states that, even in the latter half of the eighteenth century, “ All 
their work is done in the night.” 
