250 
STRANGE DWELLINGS . 
have a curious superstitious notion, which leads them to remove 
a knee-cap from each Beaver and to throw it into the fire. They 
would expect ill-luck were they to omit this ceremony, which is 
wonderfully like the custom of our fishermen of spitting into 
the mouth of the first fish they catch, and on the first money 
which they take in the day, ‘ for luck.’ 
Generally, the Beavers desert their huts in the summer time, 
although one or two of the houses may be occupied by a mother 
and her young offspring. All the old Beavers who have no 
domestic ties to chain them at home, take to the water, and 
swim up and down the stream at liberty, until the month of 
August, when they return to their homes. There are, also, 
certain individuals called by the trappers ‘les paresseux,’ or 
idlers, which do not live in houses, and make no dam, but 
abide in subterranean tunnels like those of our common water 
rat, to which they are closely ' allied. These c paresseux ’ are 
always males, and it sometimes happens that several will inhabit 
the same tunnel. The trapper is always pleased when he finds 
the habitation of an idler, as its capture is a comparatively easy 
task. \ 
