176 
PASSIONAL ZOOLOGY, 
THE BEAVER. 
The Beaver is still less than the otter a creature of the chase, 
and equally deserves the affectionate consideration of man. The 
hunter has treated this poor beast with the most improvident bar- 
barity, and misery with persecution have imbruted its high intel- 
ligence. God had provided the beaver with a magnificent trowel 
(an imbricated tail), with a double saw (incisive teeth), He had 
gifted it with hands like man (fore paws), all to make him a first- 
class engineer of bridges and dams. Man, jealous of so many 
advantages, and coveting the fur of the beast, has crossed the 
projects of God ; he has ruined from dome to foundation the edi- 
fice of the beaver’s grandeur. The Beaver of France inhabits the 
shores of the Rhone, those of the Garden, and several other trib- 
utary streams. He employs, to mask his retreat and to defend 
himself against the wickedness of man, the little genius that vex- 
ation has left him. 
His hole, contrived under the bank of the stream, represents 
very nearly a house of three stories, with cellar and granary. The 
principal door of the establishment is placed under water ; the 
proprietor has thus disposed it, so that the neighbors whom he 
mistrusts may not see him enter. The upper hole, through Avhich 
the inhabitant gets air, is built in form of a chimney ; it opens un- 
der some rock, sometimes in the trunk of an old willow. The 
three stories communicate by means of a staircase dug in the soil, 
and strewn with leaves ; the middle room, which serves as parlor 
and bedchamber, is better furnished than the others, it is floored 
with small branches ; the bed is comfortable. 
The lowest chamber serves as an eating room ; the highest is 
turned into a parlor, when the rise of water compels the master 
of the house to desert the inferior stages. 
Sometimes the whole dwelling is deluged or washed away. 
Then the unfortunate beaver, obliged to pack off, goes to seek an 
asylum among the piles of lumber which the raging stream has 
not yet washed down. Expatriated, demoralized, floating often 
by chance on a small raft, he soon forgets the principles of pru- 
