RESULTS OF BEAVERS’ WORK 178 
enjoyed. He was never in a hurry to be taken off, 
and at moving time he was always waiting eagerly 
to be lifted on. As soon as he noticed me arrang- 
ing the pack, he came close, and before I was quite 
ready for him he rose up, extending his hands in 
rapid succession beggingly, and with a whining 
sort of muttering pleaded to be lifted at once to 
his seat on the pack.” There are many instances 
of Indians having tame beavers, some of which 
grew up in the family having been taken as kittens 
and nursed by the squaws. From this and all 
other accounts the beaver is shown to be a delight- 
ful pet, cleanly in habit, good-tempered, quiet 
and gentle. The only objection to them is their 
predilection for mistaking chair and table legs for 
growing trees and cutting them down. The fact 
that they cut down trees is rather a serious argument 
against having them at large in private parks. The 
only way to keep them and not suffer from their 
peculiar habits is to set aside a portion of a stream 
for their use, and have a vigorous growth of aspens 
or some equally quick-growing tree partitioned off 
into small lots. A low iron fence is sufficient to 
keep the beaver out and they could be allowed 
access to one part until they had fairly well cleared 
it of timber. A certain number of trees could 
always be safeguarded by means of wire netting. 
The animals, having to do the work of cutting, 
would keep in good condition, far healthier and 
more vigorous than if fed with cut up food. In 
