432 HOMES WITHOUT HANDS. 



Beavers, on the other hand, are not only social by dwelling near 

 each other, but by joining in a work which is intended for the 

 benefit of the community. 



The form of the Beaver is sufficiently marked to indicate that 

 it is a water-loving creature, and that it is a better swimmer than 

 walker. The dense, close, woolly fur, defended by a coating of 

 long hairs, the broad, paddle-like tail, and the well-webbed feet, 

 are characteristics which are at once intelligible. Water, indeed, 

 seems to be an absolute necessity for the Beaver, and it is of the 

 utmost importance to the animal that the stream near which it 

 lives should not grow dry. In order to avert such a misfortune, 

 the Beaver is gifted with an instinct which teaches it how to keep 

 the water always at or about the same level, or, at all events, to 

 prevent it from sinking below the requisite level. 



If any modern engineer were asked how to attain such an ob- 

 ject, he would probably point to the nearest water-mill, and say 

 that the problem had there been satisfactorily solved, a dam hav- 

 ing been built across the stream so as to raise the water to the 

 requisite height, and to allow the superfluous water to flow away. 

 Kow water is as needful for the Beaver as for the miller, and it is 

 a very curious fact that, long before millers ever invented dams, 

 or before men ever learned to grind corn, the Beaver knew how 

 to make a dam and insure itself a constant supply of water. 



That the Beaver does make a dam is a fact that has long been 

 familiar, but how it sets to work is not so well known. Engrav- 

 ings representing the Beavers and their habitations are common 

 enough, but they are generally untrustworthy, not having been 

 drawn from the natural object, but from the imagination of the 

 artist. In most cases the dam is represented as if it had been 

 made after the fashion of our time and country, a number of 

 stakes having been driven into the bed of the river, and smaller 

 branches entwined among them. The projecting ends of the 

 stakes -are neatly squared off, and altogether the work looks 

 exactly as if it had been executed by human hands. One artist 

 seems to have copied from another, so that the error of one man 

 has been widely perpetuated. 



Now, in reality, the dam is made in a very different manner, 

 and in order to comprehend the mode of its structure, we must 

 watch the Beaver at work. 



When the animal has fixed upon a tree which it believes to 

 be suitable for its purpose, it begins by sitting upright, and with 



