30 
COMMON BEAVER. 
water for security ; and they have sentinels* who* 
by a certain cry* give notice of tile approach of 
danger. In the winter they never stir out* except 
to their magazines under the water ; and during 
that season* they become excessively fat. 
At the head of one of the rivers of Louisiana* in 
a very retired place, M. Du Pratz found a beaver 
dam. Not far from it* but hidden from the sight 
of the animals* he and his companions erected 
their hut* in order to watch the operations at 
leisure. They waited till the moon shone pretty 
bright ; and then* carrying branches of trees in 
their front to conceal themselves* they went with 
great care and silence to the dam. Du Pratz 
ordered one of the men to cut* as silently as possi- 
ble* a gutter* about a foot wide* through it ; and 
retire immediately to the hiding place. 
As soon as the water through the gutter began 
to make a noise*” says our writer* ‘ f we heard a 
beaver corne from one of the huts and plunge in. 
"We saw him get upon the bank* and clearly per- 
ceived that he examined it. He then* with all his 
force* gave four distinct blows with his tail ; w hen 
immediately the whole colony threw themselves 
into the water* and arrived upon the dam. When 
they were all assembled* one of them appeared* by 
muttering* to issue some kind of orders ; for they 
all instantly left the place* and went out on the 
hanks of the pond in different directions. Those 
nearest to us were between our station and the 
dam* and therefore we could observe their opera- 
tions very plainly. Some of them formed a sub- 
stance resembling a kind of mortar ; others car- 
ried this on their tails* which served as sledges for 
the purpose. I observed that they put themselves 
two and two* and that each of a couple, loaded 
his fellow. They trailed the mortar* which was 
pretty stiff, quite to the dam* where others were 
