4 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
AUTHENTIC HISTORY. — Continued. 
of the human species, and is certainly peculiar to those 
animals. 
“Though the Beaver which build their houses in lakes 
and other standing waters, may enjoy a sufficient quantity 
of their favourite element without the assistance of a dam, 
the trouble of getting wood and other necessaries to their 
habitations without the help of a current, must in some 
measure counterbalance the other advantages which are 
reaped from such a situation; for it must be observed that 
the Beaver which build in rivers and creeks, always cut 
their wood above their houses, so that the current, with 
little trouble, conveys it to the place required. 
‘‘The Beaver houses are built of the same materials as 
their dams, and are always proportioned in size to the 
number of inhabitants, which seldom exceed four old, and 
six or eight young ones; though, by chance, I have seen 
above double that number. 
“These houses, though not altogether unworthy of ad- 
miration, fall very short of the general description given 
of them; for instead of order or regulation being ob- 
served in rearing them, they are of a much ruder structure 
than their dams. 
“Those who have undertaken to describe the inside of 
Beaver houses, as having several apartments appropriated 
to various uses; such as eating, sleeping, store-houses for 
provisions, and one for their natural occasions, &c., must 
have been very little acquainted with the subject; or, 
which is still worse, guilty of attempting to impose on the 
credulous, by representing the greatest falsehoods as real 
facts. Many years constant residence among the Indians, 
during which I had an opportunity of seeing several hun- 
dreds of those houses, has enabled me to affirm that every 
thing of the kind is entirely void of truth; for, notwith- 
standing the sagacity of those animals, it has never been 
observed that they aim at any other conveniences 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 that is no more than a part of the 
main building, left by the sagacity of the Beaver to sup- 
port 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 small island, that 
had near a dozen apartments under one roof: and, two or 
FICTITIOUS HISTORY — Continued. 
human hands. Their tail serves them as a trowel for ap- 
plying this mortar, which they temper with their feet, &c. 
“ These retreats are not only very secure, but also very 
neat and commodious; the floor is strewed with verdure; 
boughs of box and fir serve for a carpet, upon which they 
never leave the least dirt. The window which looks out 
upon the water serves them for a balcony for the enjoy- 
ment of the air, or to bathe during the greater part of the 
day. They sit with the head and anterior parts of the 
body elevated and the posterior plunged in water; the 
opening is sufficiently elevated never to be closed by the 
ice, which in the climates where the Beavers reside, is 
sometimes three feet thick; they then lower the shelf by 
cutting the piles upon which it rested aslope, and make an 
opening into the water below the ice! ! 
“The habit which they have of continually retaining the 
tail and hinder parts in the water, appears to have changed 
the nature of their flesh. Thus the fore parts, as far as to 
the loins, has the quality, taste, and consistence of land 
animals; that of the thighs and the tail has the odour, sa- 
vour, and all the qualities of fish; this tail, a foot long, an 
inch thick, and five or six broad, is really an extremity, a 
true portion of a fish attached to the body of a quadruped. 
“However admirable, or marvellous the statements we 
have made on the labours and society of the Beaver may 
appear, we dare to say that no one will doubt their reality. 
All the relations made by different witnesses, at various 
times, agree together as to the facts we have related; and 
if our statement differ from some among them, it is only 
at points where they have swelled the marvellous, sur- 
passed thetruth, and even transcended probability !” — Buf- 
fon's Nat. Hist. 
“ Beavers are most industrious animals; nothing equals 
the art with which they construct their dwellings. They 
choose a small piece of ground with a rivulet running 
through it. This they form into a pond by making a dam 
across, first by driving into the ground stakes five or six 
feet long, placed in rows, walling each row with pliant 
twigs, and filling the interstices with clay, ramming it 
down close.” — Pennant’s History of Quadrupeds. 
“They have a chief or superintendanfiin their works, 
who directs the whole. The utmost attention is paid to 
him by the whole community. Every individual has his 
task allotted, which they undertake with the utmost alacrity. 
The overseer gives a signal, by a certain number of smart 
slaps wilh his tail, expressive of his orders. The moment 
the artificers hear it they hasten to the place thus pointed 
