178 Mr Neill on the Bewvers of Scotland^, 
\ 
ter-dog or otter,) was then hunted in Wales for the sake of its 
fur : % That this skin was held in high estimation ; and, 3. That 
the beaver had already, before the close of the 9th century, be- 
come a scarce animal in this country. 
The next authority which has come to my knowledge, is con- 
tained in the Itinerarium Cambriae” of Sylvester Giraldus de 
Barri. This writer, it may be remarked, made his journey into 
Wales, towards the end of the ISth century, or about 300 years 
after the date of the laws of Hywel Dha, as the attendant of no 
less a personage than Baldwin, Archbishop of Canterbury, whose 
zeal led him personally to excite the Welchmen to join in the 
projected crusades. In such company, and on such an errand, 
Giraldus must have had ample opportunities of intercourse with 
the best informed people of the districts through which he pass- 
ed ; and that he was inclined to be an observer of nature, is 
proved by the single fact, that when he arrives on the confines 
of the river Teivi in Cardiganshire, he immediately seems to 
forget the object of his mission, makes a long digression on the 
natural history of the beaver, and enlarges, with evident satis- 
faction, on the habits of that singular animal. Although he re- 
hearses some of the exploded fables of the ancients, yet other 
])arts of his account are very accurate, and may be consider- 
ed as bearing the marks of a description made from actual ob- 
servation. He mentions, for instance, that, in the course of 
time, the habitations of the beavers assume the appearance of a 
grove of willow trees, rude and natural without, but artfully 
constructed within ; — that the beaver has four teeth (incisores), 
two above and two below, which cut like a carpenter’s axe ; — 
and that it has a broad short tail, thick like the palm of the 
hand, which it uses as a rudder in swimming. In the simple 
and bold language of a man who knew the truth of what he 
was writing, he says of the Teivi, “ Inter universes Cambrise 
.seu etiam Llcegriae fluvios, solils hie castores habet and adds, 
‘‘ In Albania quippe, ut fertur, fluvio similiter unico habentur, 
sed rari We may perhaps infer from this cautious mode of 
expression, that the author intended to contrast the nature of 
his evidence, and to intimate, that the fact previously mention- 
Itin. Camb. lib. ii. cap. 3. 
