62 
ANIMALS OF NORTH AMERICA. 
as to need no comment — memorials of them remaining in 
every state, though the animal itself has ceased to exist in 
them. According to the Indian accounts, the beaver builds 
the north side of his house the thickest, the more effectually 
to resist the cold. It feeds on the bark of trees, shell fish, 
and the roots of the pond lily ( nuphar luteum'). Between 
the skin and the roots of this animal’s tail, lie two oval glands, 
containing a pure strong oil of a rancid smell ; this was origin- 
ally the castor oil of the early medicos, and had need to be 
a costly drug. We all doubtless, remember the story of the 
beaver when pursued biting out those glands and casting 
them before the hunter, alluded to by Juvenal, and handled 
by iEsop in his fables. But it may be some satisfaction to 
the consumer to know that the present drug, although anal- 
agous in name, is prepared from a bean, and is only allied to 
the animal oil in name. There is only one known species of 
this animal. Its principal habitat now is the Hudson Bay 
Territory ; and its skin is mostly relied upon by the Indians 
as their means of barter with the white man. 
As it has been adopted together with the maple leaf as a 
Canadian emblem, it is deemed advisable to append the 
following account by Hearne, who studied the habits of this 
animal for twenty years, in the Hudson Bay territory, 
and which is pronounced by Hr. Richardson, who himself 
had the best opportunity for ascertaining its truth, to be 
