AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
5 
AUTHENTIC HISTORY — Continued. 
three of these only excepted, none of them had any com- 
munication with each other but by water. As there were 
Beaver enough to inhabit each apartment, it is more than 
probable that each family knew its own, and always en- 
tered at their own door, without having any further con- 
nexion with their neighbours than a friendly intercourse; 
and to join their united labours in erecting their separate 
habitations, and building their dams where required. It is 
difficult to say whether their interest on other occasions 
was any ways reciprocal. The Indians of my party killed 
twelve old Beaver, and twenty-five young and half-grown 
ones out of the house above mentioned; and on examina- 
tion found that several had escaped their vigilance, and 
could not be taken but at the expense of more trouble 
than would be sufficient to take double the number in a 
less difficult situation. The difficulty here alluded to, was 
the numberless vaults the Beaver had in the sides of the 
pond, and the immense thickness of the house in some 
parts. 
“ Travellers who assert that the Beaver have two doors 
to their houses, one on the land side, and the other next 
the water, seem to be less acquainted with those animals 
than others who assign them an elegant suite of apart- 
ments. Such a proceeding would be quite contrary to 
their manner of life, and at the same time would render 
their houses of no use, either to protect them from their 
enemies, or guard them against the extreme cold in 
winter. 
“The quiquehatches, or wolvereens, are great enemies 
to the Beaver; and if there were a passage into their houses 
on the land side, would not leave one of them alive where- 
ever they came. 
“ I cannot refrain from smiling, when I read the ac- 
counts of different authors who have written on the econo- 
my of those animals, as there seems to be a contest be- 
tween them, who shall most exceed in fiction. But the 
compiler of the wonders of nature and art seems, in my 
opinion, to have succeeded best in this respect; as he has 
not only collected all the fictions into which other writers 
on the subject have run, but has so greatly improved on 
them, that little remains to be added to his account of the 
Beaver, beside a vocabulary of their language, a code of 
their laws, and a sketch of their religion, to make it the 
most complete natural history of that animal which can 
possibly be offered to the public. 
“There cannot be a greater imposition, or indeed a 
grosser insult, on common understanding, than the wish 
to make us believe the stories of some of the works as- 
cribed to the Beaver; and though it is not to be supposed 
B 
FICTITIOUS HISTORY— Continued. 
out, and perform tne allotted labour, whether it is to carry 
wood, or draw, or repair any accidental breach . They have 
also their sentinels, who, by the same kind of signal, give 
notice of any apprehended danger. They are said to have 
a sort of slavish Beaver among them (analogous to the 
drone) which they employ in servile works and domestic 
drudgery.” — Pennant's Jlrctic Zoology. 
“ The Castor, or Beaver, when in the rivers, feeds upon 
shell-fish, and such other prey as it can catch. This va- 
riety of food is the reason why its hinder parts, to the ribs, 
have the taste of fish, and that they are eaten upon fast 
days, and all the rest has the taste of flesh, so that it is not 
used at other times. 
“It has pretty large teeth, the under standing out be- 
yond their lips about three fingers breadth; the upper about 
half a finger, being very broad, crooked, strong and sharp, 
growing double, very deep in their mouths, bending circu- 
lar, like the edge of an axe, and are of a yellowish red. 
They take fishes upon them as if they were hooks, being 
able to break in pieces the hardest bones. When he bites 
he never loses his hold until his teeth meet together. The 
bristles about their mouths are as hard as horns; their bones 
are solid and without marrow; their fore feet are like a 
dog’s, and their hinder like a swan’s. Their tail is covered 
over with scales, being, like a soal, about six inches broad 
and ten inches long, which he uses as a rudder to steer 
with when he swims to catch fish; and though his teeth 
are so terrible, yet when men have seized his tail they 
can govern the animal as they please. 
“The Beavers make themselves houses of square tim- 
ber, which they gnaw down with their teeth almost as 
even as if they were sawed, and almost as equal as if it 
were measured. They lay these pieces across, and each is 
let down by large notches into the other, so that, having 
dug a hole for their foundation, they build several stories, 
that they may rise higher or lower, according to the fall of 
water. ” — Pomet, History of Drugs. 
“Amongst the Beavers some are accounted masters, 
some servants. They are cleanly in their houses, for the 
making of which, they draw the timber on the belly of 
their ancients, they lying on their backs.” — Lemery. 
“ Three Beavers were seen cutting down a large cotton- 
wood tree: when they had made considerable progress 
one of them retired to a short distance and took his station 
in the water, looking steadfastly at the top of the tree. As 
soon as he perceived the top of the tree begin to move 
