18 ROMANCE OF THE BEAVER 
trapper, who naturally does not hesitate to take the 
fullest advantage of the information. _ 
Mr. Enos Mills in his delightful book, ‘“ In 
Beaver World,” which deals more particularly with 
the Western States, fully corroborates the fact of 
the existence of the ventilating flue. He says, 
“ But little earthy matter is used in the tip-top of 
the house where the minute disjointed airholes 
between the interlaced poles give the room scanty 
ventilation.” We are of course faced with the 
question, does the beaver do this intentionally with 
the realization of what it means? Why not? 
What reasonable excuse can we have for doubting 
his understanding of what he is doing. But we 
must leave this till later when the subject of the 
intelligence or instinct of the beaver will be treated 
more thoroughly. At present, the lodge is occupy- 
ing our attention. Much has been written about 
these examples of primitive architecture and 
ridiculous statements have frequently been made. 
Pictures have appeared (as recently as towards the 
end of the eighteenth century) which show the 
houses with two stories, and with windows and 
doors cut square. It will not need much intelli- 
gence to see the absurdity of these “facts.” First 
of all, such openings would leave the inmates 
entirely at the mercy of any passing enemy, and 
secondly, animals avoid rectangular forms. So 
the sguare apertures would be practical impossi- 
bilities. 
