THE BEAVER. 133 



ajiimal itself. We may paddle gently in a birch-bark canoe 

 over a calm lake, and conceal ourselves among the tall 

 grass in some quiet cove where the yellow water-lilies float 

 on the tranquil surface. Through the still air of evening, 

 the sound of the distant waterfall reaches our ears. Wood 

 ducks fly by in vast numbers ; the rich glow of the evening 

 sky, still suffused with the gorgeous hues of the setting sun, 

 is reflected on the mirror-like expanse of water. Watching 

 with eager eyes, we see at length the water breaking some 

 forty yards away, and the head and back of an animal appears 

 in sight. Now another, and then a third, come into view. 

 After cautiously glancing around, the creatures dive, with a 

 roll like that of a porpoise, but shortly appear again. Our 

 Indian, pushing the light canoe from amid the grass, paddles 

 forward with eager strokes. One of our party fires, and 

 misses, the echoes resounding from the wood-covered shores, 

 and from island to island, till lost in the distance ; but the 

 cautious animals, forewarned, take good care not to appear 

 again during that evening. We find that our only prospect 

 of examining them is by trapping one in the usual Indian 

 fashion, which we will by-and-by describe. 



Mr. Beaver, as the Indians are fond of calling the animal, 

 has a body about three feet long, exclusive of the tail, which 

 is a foot more. He wears on his back a coat of long shining 

 hair, generally of a light chestnut colour, but sometimes of a 

 much darker hue, occasionally perfectly black. Below the hair, 

 next the skin, is a fine, soft, grayish -brown wool. He may be 

 known at once by his broad horizontal flattened tail, which is 

 nearly of an oval form, but rises into a slight convexity on its 

 upper surface, and is covered with scales. His fore-feet are 

 armed with nails, and serve for the purpose of hands — indeed, 



