THE BEAVER. 
161 
colouring which has been given to them, have been 
derived either from the warmth of their imaginations, 
from partial and imperfect observation, or from the 
credulous ignorance of their informants. Under these 
circumstances we cannot do better than recur to the 
statements of one or two practical men, whose residence 
in the country and close connexion with the fur trade 
gave them the best opportunities for obtaining correct 
information, and whose narratives bear in themselves 
the stamp of authenticity. Such were Hearne, one of 
the most intelligent and enterprising agents whom the 
Hudson's , Bay Company ever employed ; and Cart- 
wright, who resided for nearly sixteen years on the 
coast of Labrador for the sole purpose of procuring 
furs. From the Journals of these two plain-dealing 
and matter-of-fact men we shall proceed to give the 
principal facts with which they furnish us relative to 
the habits of the Beaver in its native state, and to the 
various modes adopted by the hunters for possessing 
themselves of its valuable skin. 
The situations in which the Beavers build are very 
various. Sometimes they take up their abode in a 
pond or a lake, in which the water is tolerably uniform 
in height and pretty deep immediately under the bank ; 
but they generally make choice of a running stream as 
more convenient for the conveyance of their materials. 
They are also said to select in preference the northern 
side for the advantage of the sun, and the bank of an 
island, rather than that of the mainland, as affording 
them greater security from the attacks of their enemies. 
In this selection, however, their instinct frequently 
misleads them ; for they have been known to build in 
situations where they have been unable to procure food, 
and where they have consequently perished from star- 
vation, or to have fixed upon a stream which has been 
M 
