AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
9 
authentic history. — Continued. 
or at least as many of them as possible. While the princi- 
pal men are thus employed, some of the understrappers, 
and the women, are busy in breaking open the house, 
which at times is no easy task; for I have frequently 
known these houses to be five and six feet thick; and one 
in particular, was more than eight feet thick on the crown. 
When the beaver find that their habitations are invaded, 
they fly to their holes in the banks for shelter; and on 
being perceived by the Indians, which is easily done, by 
attending to the motion of the water, they block up the 
entrance with stakes of wood and then haul the beaver 
out of its hole, either by hand, if they can reach it, or 
with a large hook made for that purpose, which is fastened 
to the end of a long stick. 
“ In this kind of hunting, every man has the sole right 
to all the beaver caught by him in the holes or vaults; and 
as this is a constant rule, each person takes care to mark 
such as he discovers, by sticking up the branch of a tree, 
or some other distinguishing post, by which he may know 
them. All that are caught in the house also are the pro- 
perty of the person who finds it. 
“ The same regulations are observed, and the same pro- 
cess used in taking beaver that are found in lakes and other 
standing waters, except it be that of staking the lake 
across, which would be both unnecessary and impossible. 
Taking beaver-houses in these situations is generally at- 
tended with less trouble and more success than in the 
former. 
FICTITIOUS HISTORY. — Continued. 
number of avenues, by means of which they enter and 
quit subterraneously, so as not to be perceived by the most 
keen and watchful Indian; these all terminate at a distance 
from their dwelling, and in part of the mound constituting 
their dike, or in lakes or rivers, near which they usually 
form their establishments, that they may have it in their 
power to select that direction which may be most conve- 
nient and least dangerous in the various incidents and exi- 
gencies of their lives. 
“Beavers are divided into tribes, and sometimes mere- 
ly into small bands, each of which has its chief; and order 
and discipline exist in these distinct societies to a greater 
extent probably than among the Indians, or even among 
some civilized and polished nations. 
“Their magazines are invariably fully stored with pro- 
visions in summer; and no one is permitted to break in 
upon this stock until the scarcity of winter begins to be 
experienced, unless circumstances render it imperatively 
necessary to violate this rule. In no case, however, is 
any one permitted to enter without the express authority 
and indeed the presence of the chief. Their provisions 
consist, in general, of the bark of trees, principally of the 
willow and poplar species. On some occasions when bark 
is not to be found in sufficient quantities, they collect also 
the wood of those trees, which they divide into distinct 
parcels with their teeth. 
(to be continued.) 
GROTTO DEL CANE. 
I believe I did not tell you, in my last, that I made 
a visit to the famous Grotto del Cane , a visit to me so full 
of interest, that I cannot help giving you some account of 
it, notwithstanding the numerous descriptions we already 
have of that singular place. I was enticed onward, one 
bright morning, by the numberless curious objects that pre- 
sent themselves about Naples, till I found myself at the 
entrance of the Grotto of Posilipo, then at its further ex- 
tremity, then in the beautiful valley beyond; and being 
now not far from the Grotto del Cane, set out in earnest 
for a treat that I had, from the first, been promising my- 
self. A guide was quickly selected from a set of ragged 
urchins, who offered themselves along the road. Thus 
escorted, I soon reached the house of the Custode, or show- 
man, and a rapid knock and short dialogue having settled 
the preliminaries, I pushed on towards the Grotto, leav- 
ing him to hunt up his dog and follow at his leisure. The 
C 
road, which had hitherto obliquely crossed the valley no- 
ticed above, now approached its edge, and led us among 
rough, abrupt hills, until suddenly turning to the right, 
and entering a deep, natural chasm, it brought us in a few 
minutes to the edge of the Lago d’Agnaro. This lake is 
about four miles in circuit, and evidently occupies the 
crater of an extinct volcano. My little Cicerone led me 
along the border of the lake, for about a hundred yards, 
when pointing to a small door against the side of the crater, 
a short distance above us, he told me that there was the 
object of my search. The name Grotto had misled me, 
and my disappointment was great, when, on the door 
being unlocked and thrown open, an excavation, of not 
more than twelve feet in length, and seven or eight in 
height, made its appearance. To the right, it was the 
rudest thing possible. The bottom, sides, and top, were 
of the bare earth, very uneven, and as the cave was shaped 
much like an egg, it was only at the centre or near it, that 
a person could stand upright. The floor, and sides to a 
