OF THE POLAR SEA. 



91 



The musk rat ( watsuss, or musquash,) is very abundant in all the 

 small grassy lakes. They build small conical houses with a mixture 

 of hay and earth ; those which build early raising their houses on 

 the mud of the marshes, and those which build later in the season 

 founding their habitations upon the surface of the ice itself. The 

 house covers a hole in the ice, which permits them to go into the 

 water in search of the roots on which they feed. In severe winters 

 when the small lakes are frozen to the bottom, and these animals 

 cannot procure their usual food, they prey upon each other. In 

 this way great numbers are destroyed. 



The beaver (ammisk) furnishes the staple fur of the country. 

 Many surprising stories have been told of the sagacity with which 

 this animal suits the form of its habitation, retreats, and dam, to 

 local circumstances ; and I compared the account of its manners, 

 given by Cuvier, in his Regne Animal, with the reports of the In- 

 dians, and found them to agree exactly. They have been often seen 

 in the act of constructing their houses in the moon-light nights, and 

 the observers agree, that the stones, wood, or other materials, are 

 carried in their teeth, and generally leaning against the shoulder. 

 When they have placed it to their mind, they turn round and give 

 it a smart blow with their flat tail. In the act of diving they give 

 a similar stroke to the surface of the water. They keep their pro- 

 vision of wood under water in front of the house. Their favourite 

 food is the bark of the aspen, birch, and willow ; they also eat the 

 alder, but seldom touch any of the pine tribe unless from necessity ; 

 they are fond of the large roots of the nuphar luteum, and grow 

 fat upon it, but it gives their flesh a strong rancid taste. In the sea- 

 son of love their call resembles a groan, that of the male being the 

 hoarsest, but the voice of the young is exactly like the cry of a 

 child. They are very playful, as the following anecdote will shew : — 

 One day a gentleman, long resident in this country, espied five 

 young beavers sporting in the water, leaping upon the trunk of a 



N 2 



