RESULTS OF BEAVERS’ WORK 159 
men interested in the question. There is absolutely 
no desire to tread on anybody’s toes, but rather to 
call attention to conditions which might so easily 
be remedied, for my interest is simply with the 
beaver, and with protection of wild life in general. 
I know it has been asserted that beaver were 
too abundant in a certain park, but whether the 
assertion was justified by facts I have serious 
doubts. At any rate, before radical measures were 
adopted, it would have been advisable to have had 
the expert opinion of an entirely disinterested 
person, or, better still, of many persons, and if 
their findings resulted in a disagreement then the 
beaver should have had the benefit of the doubt. 
In Newfoundland the question of beaver protec- 
tion needs most serious consideration and a definite 
policy lined out for future plans. Eleven years 
ago I first visited that country, and each succeeding 
year until 1912, when I was last there. During 
that period of ten years ample opportunities were 
afforded me of observing the beaver and the 
extraordinary results of what protection can do. 
During the first four visits to the island J never 
saw but one beaver colony, and that a very small 
one in a remote and inaccessible part of the country. 
In 1912 I counted no less than twenty-seven 
occupied lodges within a short day of walking and 
canoeing. What has happened in that one district 
is simply an indication of what might be expected 
elsewhere, and goes to. show how rapidly the whole 
