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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



tween individuals and companies, and even 

 caused jealous rivalries among the Dutch, Eng- 

 lish, and French colonies. 



Disputes over the right to trade in certain 

 districts often led to bloodshed, and even to 

 long wars, over great areas, where powerful 

 rival companies fought for the control of a 

 new empire. This eager competition among 

 daring adventurers resulted in the constant ex- 

 tension of trading posts through the North and 

 West, until the vanguard of civilization reached 

 the far borders of the continent on the shores 

 of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. 



Among the fur traders the beaver skin be- 

 came the unit of value by which barter was 

 conducted for all sorts of commodities. This 

 usage extended even throughout northern 

 Alaska, where it was current among the Amer- 

 ican fur traders until the discovery of gold 

 there upset old standards. 



Beavers belong to the rodent family — a group 

 of animals notable for their weak mental pow- 

 ers. The beaver is the striking exception to 

 the rule, and its extraordinary intelligence, in- 

 dustry, and skill have long excited admiration. 

 It is scarcely entitled to the almost superhu- 

 man intelligence many endow it with, yet it 

 certainly possesses surprising ability along cer- 

 tain lines. Furthermore, it can alter its habits 

 promptly when a change in environment ren- 

 ders this advantageous. 



In wild places, where rarely disturbed, beavers 

 are unsuspicious, but where they are much 

 trapped they become amazingly alert and can 

 be taken only by the most skillful trapping. 

 They are very proficient in building narrow 

 dams of sticks, mud, and small stones across 

 small streams for the purpose of backing up 

 water and making "beaver ponds." In the border 

 of these ponds a conical lodge is usually con- 

 structed of sticks and mud. It is several feet 

 high and about 8 or 10 feet across at the base. 



The entrance is usually under water, and a 

 passageway leads to an interior chamber large 

 enough to accommodate the pair and their 

 well-grown young. From the ponds the ani- 

 mals sometimes dig narrow canals several hun- 

 dred feet long back through the flats among 

 the trees. Having short legs and heavy bodies, 

 and consequently being awkward on land, 

 beavers save themselves much labor by con- 

 structing canals for transporting the sticks and 

 branches needed for food and for repairing 

 their houses and dams. 



Along the Colorado, lower Rio Grande, and 

 other streams with high banks and variable 

 water level, beavers usually dig- tunnels lead- 

 ing from an entrance well under water to a 

 snug chamber in the bank above water level. 

 Under the varying conditions in different areas 

 they make homes showing every degree of in- 

 tergradation between the two types described. 



Beavers live almost entirely on twigs and 

 bark, and their gnawing powers are surpris- 

 ing. Where small trees less than a foot in 

 diameter abound they are usually chosen, but 

 the animals do not hesitate to attack large 

 trees. On the headwaters of the San Francisco 

 River, in western New Mexico, I saw a cotton- 



wood nearly 30 inches in diameter that had 

 been felled so skillfully that it had fallen with 

 the top in the middle of a small beaver pond, 

 thus assurine an abundance of food for the 

 animals at their very door. 



In the cold northern parts of their range, 

 where streams and ponds remain frozen for 

 months at a time, beavers gather freshly cut 

 green twigs, sticks, and poles, which they 

 weight down with mud and stones on the bot- 

 toms of ponds or streams near their houses, to 

 be used for food during the shut-in period. 



The mud used by beavers in building dams 

 and houses is scooped up and carried against 

 the breast, the front feet being used like hands. 

 The flat tail serves as a rudder when the ani- 

 mal is swimming or diving, and to strike the 

 surface of the water a resounding slap as a 

 danger signal. 



Beavers are usually nocturnal, but in dis- 

 tricts where not disturbed they sometimes come 

 out to work by day, especially late in the after- 

 noon. Among the myriads of small streams 

 and lakes in the great forested area north of 

 Quebec they are very plentiful ; their dams and 

 houses are everywhere, sometimes four or five 

 houses about one small lake. Their well-worn 

 trails lead through the woods near the lake 

 shores and frequently cross portages between 

 lakes several hundred yards apart. 



Where beavers continue to occupy streams in 

 settled districts, they often make regular trails 

 from a slide on the river bank back to neighbor- 

 ing cornfields, where they feast on the succulent 

 stalks and green ears. They also injure or- 

 chards planted near their haunts, by girdling or 

 felling the trees. Within recent years laws for 

 their protection have been passed in many 

 States, and beavers have been reintroduced in 

 a number of localities. They should not be 

 colonized in streams flowing through lands 

 used for orchards or cornfields, nor where the 

 available trees are too few to afford a con- 

 tinuous food supply. 



FISHER, OR PEKAN (Mustela pennanti) 



The fisher is one of the largest and hand- 

 somest members of the weasel family. Like 

 others of this group, it is a long-bodied, short- 

 legged animal. It attains an extreme length of 

 from 3 to 2% feet and a weight of 18 or 20 

 pounds, but the average is decidedly lower than 

 these figures. In general, it is like a gigantic 

 marten, and from its size and dark color is 

 sometimes known locally as the "black cat" or 

 "black fox." 



It lives in the forested parts of Canada and 

 the United States, where it originally occurred 

 from the southern shores of Hudson Bay and 

 Great Slave Lake south throughout most of 

 eastern Canada and New England and along 

 the Alleghanies to Tennessee; also in the Great 

 Lakes region, south to the southern end of 

 Lake Michigan : along the Rocky Mountains to 

 Wyoming, down the Cascades to northern Cal- 

 ifornia, and from the Atlantic coast of Nova 

 Scotia and Maine to the Pacific coast of south- 

 eastern Alaska and British Columbia. They 



