AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
7 
AUTHENTIC HISTORY — Continued. 
be procured. The mud is always taken from the edge 
of the bank, or the bottom of the creek or pond, near the 
door of the house; and though their fore-paws are so 
small, yet it is held close up between them, under their 
throat, that they carry both mud and stones; while they 
always drag the wood with their teeth. 
“All their work is executed in the night; and they are 
so expeditious in completing it, that in the course of one 
night I have known them to have collected as much mud 
at their houses as to have amounted to some thousands of 
their little handfuls; and when any mixture of grass or 
straw has appeared in it, it has been, most assuredly, mere 
chance, owing to the nature of the ground from which 
they had taken it. As to their designedly making a 
composition for that purpose, it is entirely void of 
truth. 
“ It is a great piece of policy in those animals, to cover, 
or plaister as it is usually called, the outside of their houses 
every fall with fresh mud, and as late as possible in the 
autumn, even when the frost becomes pretty severe; as 
by this means it soon freezes as hard as a stone, and pre- 
vents their common enemy, the quiquehatch, from dis- 
turbing them during the winter. And as they are fre- 
quently seen to walk over their work, and sometimes to 
give a flap with their tail, particularly when plunging into 
the water, this has, without doubt, given rise to the vulgar 
opinion that they use their tails as a trowel, with which 
they plaister their houses; whereas that flapping of the 
tail is no more than a custom, which they always pre- 
serve even when they become tame and domestic, and 
more particularly so when they are startled. 
“ Their food chiefly consists of a large root, ( nuphar 
Luteum,) something resembling a cabbage stalk, which 
grows at the bottom of the lakes and rivers. They eat 
also the bark of trees, particularly that of the poplar, birch, 
and willow; but the ice preventing them from getting to 
the land in winter, they have not any barks to feed upon 
during that season, except that of such sticks as they cut 
down in summer, and throw into the water opposite the 
doors of their houses; and as they generally eat a great 
deal, the roots above mentioned constitute a chief part of 
their food during the winter. In summer they vary their 
diet, by eating various kinds of herbage, and such berries 
as grow near their haunts during that season. 
“When the ice breaks up in the spring, the beaver al- 
ways leave their houses, and rove about the whole sum- 
mer, probably in search of a more commodious situation; 
but in case of not succeeding in their endeavours, they 
return again to their old habitations a little before the fall 
FICTITIOUS HISTORY — Continued. 
was observed several times to come pretty near the labour- 
ers, as if to examine what passed. As I apprehended that 
they might run into the woods if further disturbed, I ad- 
vised my companions again to conceal themselves. 
“One of the Beavers then ventured to go upon the 
breach, after having several times approached and returned 
like a spy. He surveyed the place, and then struck four 
blows, as he did the preceding evening, with his tail. One 
of those that were going to work, passed close by me; and 
as I wanted a specimen to examine, I shot him. The noise 
of the gun made them scamper off with greater speed than 
a hundred blows of the tail of their overseer could have 
done. By firing at them several times afterwards, they 
were compelled to run with precipitation into the woods. 
I then examined their habitations, and under one of the 
houses I found fifteen pieces of wood, with the bark in 
part gnawed off, apparently intended for food. Round 
the middle of this house, which formed a passage for 
them to go in and out at, I found no less than fifteen 
different cells. These habitations were made by posts 
fixed slantingly upwards to a point; and in the middle 
was the floor, resting firmly on notches in the posts .” — Du 
Pratz. 
“It seems difficult for a traveller to publish his adven- 
tures without mentioning the Castor, or Beaver, even though 
his travels may have been limited to Africa, where this ani- 
mal is not to be found. I should wish to avoid repetitions, 
but I do not distinctly recollect any thing that has been 
stated by these ingenious gentlemen on the subject, or 
even what Buffon wrote about it in his closet. I will 
communicate to you only what I have myself actually 
seen, and been from good authority informed of, respect- 
ing these astonishing creatures. If I mention circum- 
stances which others have narrated before me, you may 
consider it as affording additional evidence of what you 
Avere previously acquainted with ; and if what I advance 
be new, you will, I hope, give me credit for adding to your 
information. 
“ A small river flows into the lake on the western side. 
The Beavers have barricadoed the mouth of it by a dike, 
completed in a manner which would not disgrace a corps 
of engineers; the water is thus kept back, and forms a 
pond, in which they have erected their habitations. It 
is proper to notice that the river in question is never dried 
up, as otherwise they would not have fixed upon it for 
their purpose. 
“The stakes fixed in the earth, and the trunks of trees 
which are laid across them, are of considerable thickness 
