THE BEAVER. 
212 
stock of wood from the trees just mentioned^ 
and place it in the water opposite to tb^ 
entrance to their houses. They also eat tb^* 
roots of the yellow-flowering water-lily, which 
grow at the bottom of lakes, ponds, and rivetS; 
and may be procured at all seasons. 
To take the beavers residing on a sma^^ 
river or creek, the Indians find it necessary 
to stake the stream across to prevent thei^ 
escape. They then try to ascertain where 
the vaults or washes in the banks are situated > 
and it is only practised hunters that can di®' 
cover them. The hunt takes place in winter^ 
because the fur of the animal is then in tbe 
best condition. The hunter, with an ice-chisc^ 
fastened to a handle four or five feet in length’' 
strikes against the ice as he goes along tb^ 
edge of the bank, and the sound produced b/ 
the blow informs him when he is opposite 
one of those excavations. On discovering onC> 
a hole, sufficient to admit a full-grown beavc’^ 
