FURS AND THEIR WEARERS, 



153 



and their chief food is bark and aquatic plants, which they collect in 

 large heaps for the winter. Their powerful teeth enable them to gnaw 

 down trees, even of the hardest wood. To obtain a proper depth of 

 running water, with a surface varying little in height, they build a 

 dam on a stream to make a pond, in which to build houses for winter, 

 using trees and branches mixed with stones and mud. They cut their 

 wood up-stream, and float it down. The houses are built where the 



Fig. 13. 



Kaccoon. (Tenney.) 



water is several feet deep, and their only entrance is at the bottom. 

 They are continued so much above the water as to admit of an upper, 

 dry apartment, approached from the lower, and usually occupied by 

 two or three families. The fur of the American beaver is of a uniform 

 reddish brown, fine, thick, and of the best quality. It was formerly 

 almost wholly used for making hats. It is used for that now ; also for 

 gentlemen's caps, mufflers, and gloves. A large portion of it is ex- 

 ported to England. 



Fig. 14. 



■•■•K3J5 



Badger. (Tenney.) 



Nutria fur is obtained from the coypou, or couia, a South American 

 animal resembling the beaver in size and habits, but having a long, 

 round tail. Its similarity, or that of its fur, to the otter and muskrat, 

 may be inferred from its names : nutria meaning otter, and myopota- 

 mus river-mouse. In fact, Molina speaks of the coypou as a species 

 of water-rat, of the size and color of the otter. In the workshops it 

 is called the South American monkey. It has long, ruddy hair, and a 



