BEAVER. 
275 
they are tawny, and even as pale as straw-colour. 
They are covered with two sorts of hair, one long', 
and the other a soft down ; the latter, which is an 
inch in length, is extremely fine and compact, and 
accommodates the animal with a necessary warmth. 
The long hair preserves the down from dirt and 
humidity. 
These creatures are found from 30 to 60 degrees 
of northern latitude, and particularly abound round 
Hudson’s Bay ; from whence they stretch as low as 
Carolina and Louisiana. They have been traced 
from Hudson’s Bay and Canada to 120 degrees of 
west longitude ; and have been found, though in 
an unsociable state, in Lapland, Norway, and Swe- 
den. 
The beaver has four bags under his intestines 
impregnated with a resinous liquid, which, when it 
is ejected, settles into a thick consistence, and be- 
comes the castor of the shops, so long celebrated for 
the cure of nervous and spasmodic disorders. This 
substance loses some of its virtue by long keeping, 
and becomes black. The Americans used to strip 
the long hair from the beaver’s skin, and manu- 
facture the down into stockings, caps, and stuffs ; 
but these have been found liable to harden like felt, 
and are therefore disused in most places ; so that at 
present the beaver is used for little else than hats 
or furs. According to Mr. Pennant, the manufac- 
ture of hats from the fur of these animals began in 
England in the reign of Charles the First, when the 
manufacture was regulated, 1638, by proclamation ; 
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