410 NORTHERN ‘ZOOLOGY. 
double that number. Instead of order or regulation being observed in rearing 
their houses, they are of much ruder structure than their dams; for, notwith- 
standing the sagacity of these animals, it has never been observed that they aim 
at any other convenience in their houses, than to have a dry place to lie on; and 
there they usually eat their victuals, which they occasionally take out of the 
water. It frequently happens, that some of the large houses are found to have 
one or more partitions, if they deserve that appellation ; but it is no more than a 
part of the main building, left by the sagacity of the beaver to support the roof. 
On such occasions, it is common for those different apartments, as some are 
pleased to call them, to have no communication with each other but by water; so 
that, in fact, they may be called double or treble houses, rather than different 
apartments of the same house. I have seen a large beaver-house built in a smalk 
island, that had near a dozen apartments under one roof; and, two or three 
of these only excepted, none of them had any communication with each other 
but by water. As there were beavers enough to inhabit each apartment, it 
is more than probable that each family knew their own, and always entered at 
their own doors, without any further connection with their neighbours than a 
friendly intercourse, and to join their united labours in erecting their separate 
habitations, and building their dams where required. Travellers who assert that 
the beavers have two doors to their houses, one on the land side and the other 
next the water, seem to be less acquainted with these animals than others who 
assign them an elegant suite of apartments. ‘Such a construction would render 
their houses of no use, either to protect them from their enemies, or guard them 
against the extreme cold of winter. 
*‘ So far are the beavers from driving stakes into the ground when building 
their houses, that they lay most of the wood crosswise, and nearly horizontal, and 
without any other order than that of leaving a hollow or cavity in the middle; 
when any unnecessary branches project inward, they cut them off with their — 
teeth, and throw them in among the rest, to prevent the mud from falling 
through the roof. It is a mistaken notion, that the wood work is first completed 
and then plastered; for the whole of their houses as well as their dams are, 
from the foundation, one mass of mud and wood, mixed with stones, if they can 
be procured. The mud is always taken from the edge of the bank, or the 
bottom of the creek or pond, near the door of the house; and though their fore- 
paws are so small, yet it is held close up between them under their throat, that 
they carry both mud and stones, while they always drag the wood with their 
teeth. All their work is executed in the night; and they are so expeditious, 
