CASTOR FIBER CANADENSIS. 
I 59 
miration ; they are thus constructed — the Beavers first collect to- 
gether all the drift wood which they find along the river, and 
whenever this falls short, they gnaw away, in the next adjoining 
wood, the sweetest bark all around with the front teeth, of which 
they have two in the upper, and two in the lower gum, they then 
cut right around the trunk until the tree falls ; when they also 
shorten the pieces in like manner, to adapt them to the proposed 
building. The females carry the pieces on the back, the males 
support ll behind so that it may not fall off. The houses rise in- 
geniously to the height of five stories ; they are smeared above 
with clay to protect them from the rain ; in the middle is a con- 
venient aperture through which to dive into the water as soon as 
they perceive any person. Wherefore, one of the troop keeps 
watch by turns, and in the winter a second keeps the water open 
by constant beating of the tank The tail is flattish without hair, 
and most dainty food which in some places is served up as a rare 
delicacy. The beavers go with young sixteen weeks ; they bear 
once a year four young, which cry and suck like young children ; 
for the mother rises on her hind paws and gives each two a breast 
as she has only two breasts between the fore legs ; these legs re- 
semble somewhat those of the dog ; the hindmost, like those of 
geese, lap in some measure over each other. On both sides of the 
privy parts lie two swellings enclosed in separate membranes. 
From the privy parts oozes an oleaginous humor, with which they 
smear all the accessible parts of the body in order to keep dry. 
Inwardly they resemble a cut up hog; they live on leaves and 
bark; are excessively attached to their young; the wind-hairs 
which rise glittering above the back, fall off in the summer, and 
grow again by the fall ; they are short necked ; have strong sinews 
and muscles ; move rapidly in the water and on land ; attacked by 
men or dogs, they bite fiercely. The pure Castor , so highly prised 
by physicians, consists of oblong follicles, resembling a wrinkled 
pear which are firmly attached to the os pubis of the female beaver; 
