FOUR-FOOTED LAKE-DWELLERS. 



177 



is less likely to be seen or entered by an enemy ; and, 

 lastly, tlie beaver contrives, by building his dam, to 

 create a lake wherever he chooses, and he digs canals 

 down which he floats the materials for his habitation. 



A hamlet of lake-dwellera on Lake Maraoaybo. 



FOUR-FOOTED LAKE-DWELLERS, 



AND THEIR ARCHITp:CTURE. 



Of all mammals the beaver is the best house- 

 builder, and in some respects seems the most intelli- 

 gent of the lower animals. There are, however, two 

 sorts of intelligence among animals, without counting 



