106 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 
nails, which bear a striking resemblance to those of the human hand, but are rather more 
compressed. When the animal sits erect, it rests on its hind-legs and tail; but when it walks, 
it puts its fore-feet to the ground, and, then arching its body, brings forward its hind-legs, and 
trails the tail behind it. The whole hind sole touches the ground as it walks, but only the toes 
of the fore-feet. When the fore-feet are lifted, the toes are curled together, or the fist is closed, 
which gives them a peculiar appearance of weakness, like a paralytic hand ; they are spread out 
when they touch the ground. The motions of the Beaver are slow when it is not pursued. 
DIMENSIONS 
Of a full-grown Beaver (Spec. 420, Zool. Mus.), killed at Great Slave Lake. 
Inches. Lines. Inches, Lines. 
Length of head and body 6 ¢ . 40 0 | Distance from tip of nose to anterior part 
a head alone . . 7 3 of the eye : 5 : - 2 10 
6 tail, scaly part e . cel 6 - the posterior part of the orbit 
to anterior part ofthe ear. ° . 2 5 
DIMENSIONS 
Of a recent specimen of what is termed, by the Fur Traders, a three-quarter Beaver. 
Inches. Inches, 
Length of head and body ¢ . 2 . 30 Length of fore-feet - 3 . . 3 
on tail, scaly part é ° ° fa 10 » of thesole of the hind foot . . 7 
Circumference before hindlegs 5 5 30 Greatest breadth of the tail - . . « 53 
%) immediately behind fore-legs - 218 
The weight of a full-grown Beaver is about twenty-four pounds. 
I have not had an opportunity of dissecting a Beaver; but I was informed by the 
hunters, that both males and females are furnished with one pair of little bags, 
containing castoreum, and also with a second pair of smaller ones betwixt the former 
and the anus, which are filled with a white fatty matter, of the consistence of butter, 
and exhaling a strong odour. This latter substance is not an article of trade; but 
the Indians occasionally eat it, and also mingle a little with their tobacco when 
they smoke. I did not learn the purpose that this secretion is destined to serve in 
the economy of the animal; but from the circumstance of small ponds when inha- 
bited by Beavers being tainted with its peculiar odour, it seems probable that it 
affords a dressing to the fur of these aquatic animals. The castoreum, in its recent 
state, has an orange colour, which deepens, as it dries, into bright reddish-brown. 
During the drying, which is allowed to go on in the shade, a gummy matter exudes 
through the sack, which the Indians delight in eating. The male and female 
castoreum is of the same value, ten pairs of bags of either kind being reckoned to 
an Indian as equal to one beaver-skin. The castoreum is never adulterated in the 
fur countries. The flesh of the Beaver is much prized by the Indians and Cana- 
dian Voyagers, especially when it is roasted in the skin, after the hair has been 
singed off. In some districts it requires all the influence of the Fur Trader to 
restrain the hunters from sacrificing a considerable quantity of beaver fur every 
