THE BEAVER. 



after, through a hole which they keep open on purpofe, if the froft is not 

 too fevere. They forfake their houfes during the fummer, and ramble about 

 from place to place, lleeping on a bed which they make of Hicks fhred fine, 

 under the covert of fome bum near the water fide. Although the fagacity 

 of the Beaver appears fo aftonilhing, it is certainly not infallible ; as they 

 have been known to eflablifh their colony in a pond, where their food was 

 fo fcarce, that all have died with hunger ; or to chufe a fituation fo flat, that 

 a fudden thaw in the winter has flooded the whole place. Sometimes they 

 have fixed on a brook where a thaw has {welled the fiream of water to. fuch 

 a height as to warn away all their food, and fiarve them to death. 



Much has been faid by different writers, of their gnawing down large 

 trees, and tranfporting them to their works by their united Hrength ; but 

 thefe accounts appear to have been greatly exaggerated, although there is 

 fome foundation for them. It has like wife been faid, that they ufe their 

 tails as trowels to plaifter their houfes with, but Mr. Cartwright feems to 

 doubt this circumltance, and obferves, in fupport of his opinion, that their 

 tails are too heavy, and the tendons which move them too weak, to enable 

 them to perform fuch an operation : he rather thinks they daub the earth on 

 with their fore feet. He profefies not to believe the aflertion, that they ufe 

 their tails as Hedges to draw Hones and earth upon, becaufe the tail being 

 thicken: at the root and down the centre, he conceives it impoffible that 

 a Hone mould be kept on it, unlefs it were held there by another Beaver : 

 he fays, he never obferved that they had removed any Hones off the ground, 

 but that they bring them in their fore paws from the fides and bottom of the 

 pond. But what feems to put the matter out of all doubt is, that the fkin on 

 the under fide of the tail never appears in the lean: rubbed or fcratched, 

 which would inevitably be the cafe, were that part made ufe of for the 

 purpofe of draw ing heavy loads. 



The Ikins of the Beaver form an amazing article of trade. In the year 

 1763, fifty-four thoufand fix hundred and feventy Ikins were fold in a fingle 

 fale of the Hudfon's Bay Company. They are difiinguifhed by different 

 appellations. Thofe Ikins which have been worn by the Indians are called 



