CASTOR. 
eut of a rock, and empties itfelf into the Ancolm. The 
church is a fine old Gothic ftone edifice, built out of the 
ruins of Thong Cafile, long fince demolilhed, though fome 
part of the foundation.vvalls are yet to be feen. The 
church was damaged by lightning on the 4th of June, 1795. 
Caftor is a place of great antiquity, of which our annals 
give the following account: “ Hengift the Saxon, having 
conquered the Piils and Scots, begged, like the Carthagi¬ 
nian princefs, as much ground in this place as he could 
encompafs with an ox’s hide cut into thongs, where he 
built a cafile from whence the town was called Thong- 
Cafior. The Romans inhabited this place; and part of a 
Roman wall yet remains near the church-yard. The town 
enjoys a good free-f'chool, endowed with 80I. per annum 
for the mafier. 
CASTOR, f. [>c«r«p, qu. yctruf, from yar^p, the belly, 
becaufe of the largenefs of his belly; or a cajirando, be- 
caufe he is faid to cafirate himfelf in order to efcape the 
hunters.] TheBEAVER; in zoology, a genus of quadru¬ 
peds belonging to the order of glires. The generic cha¬ 
racters are as follow: two very ftrong cutting teeth in 
each jaw, and four grinders on each fide, in both jaws ; 
the tail is long, flattened, and fcaly ; the (keleton has per¬ 
fect clavicles, or collar-bones; all the feet have five toes. 
1. Caftor fiber, or common beaver, found principally on 
the banks of rivers and lakes, in woody countries. They 
feed moftly on the bark and boughs of trees, which they 
lay up in (lore, as winter provifion; and in fummer on 
leaves and fruits, fometimes on crabs and craw-fifh, but 
they are not fond of fifh. The trees which they chiefly 
prefer are faffafras, aft), fweet-gum, fervice, willow, pop¬ 
lar, and magnolia; the roots of flag, and other aquatic 
plants. They walk flowly, but fwim with great dexte¬ 
rity, remain in their habitations during the day, ileep with 
great foundnefs, and are remarkably cleanly; their difpo- 
fitions are exceedingly mild and gentle, and, when caught 
young, are very eafily tamed. They pair, or form into 
monoganous focieties of one male and one female, in the 
winter feafon; the commerce of the fexes is in an ereCf 
pofture : the female has four teats, goes four months with 
young, and brings moftly two, feldom three, and very 
rarely four, at a litter. The head and body meafure from 
two and a half to three feet long; the tail is about half 
that length, and three inches broad ; it is quite flat and 
thin horizontally; about the quarter of its length neareft 
the body is covered with hair, the reft is entirely naked of 
hair, and is covered with fcales; all the feet have five 
toes; the fore foot is fmall, and its toes are divided, but 
the hind foot is large, and all its toes are connected by a 
web, or membrane; the head is thick and pyramidal, end¬ 
ing in a blunt nofe; the ears are fhort, and hid in the fur ; 
the neck thick and (hort; the body ftrongly made, and 
highly arched in the back ; the body is covered w ith a 
double coat of fur, one of which is foft, downy, and of an 
afti-colour; the other is longer, ftraight, coarfer, and of an 
chefnut-colour, which is the general colour of the animal; 
in different parts of the world, however, the colour va¬ 
ries, being darker, in general, in proportion as we go far¬ 
ther north, even fometimes entirely black; fometimes of 
an uniform white colour, fometimes white fpotted with 
afti-colour, or white interfperfed with reddifh hairs, but 
very rarely yellow. The falivary glands are very large; 
and, befides thefe, it is provided with other glands at the 
right fide of the upper orifice of the ftomach, which fe- 
crete a large quantity of fluid into the ftomach, through 
eighteen diftinCt excretory orifices; near the anus and ex¬ 
ternal parts are placed two large glands, having a kind of 
cellular follicles, or fpongy excretories, which pour out 
a febaceous matter, of a peculiar heavy odour : this is the 
medicinal fubftance named cajloreum, of which each indivi¬ 
dual, both male and female, ufually contains about two 
ounces. That produced by the beavers of Ruflia is in 
much higher efteem than the American, and fells for a 
greater price. 
Yol. III. No. 169. 
889 
The Angular ingenuity of this quadruped excites uni- 
verfal admiration; and, were it not well vouched, might 
pafs fora fable. As the peculiar manners of the beaver 
require extenfive forefts and fequeftered waters, they are 
only found in large numbers in the thinly-peopled waftes 
of North America, and in the north-eaftern extremity of 
Afiatic Ruflia, elpecially about the Konda, and other ri¬ 
vers which flow into the Oby. They there aflociate to¬ 
gether for carrying on their wonderful operations, in which 
they furpafs very far the inftindt and ingenuity of all other 
quadrupeds. They begin to aflemble, in June or July, 
from all quarters of the country, till they form a troop of 
two or three hundred individuals, near the banks of fome 
river or brook: if the water they have chofen be broad, and 
never rifes above its ordinary level, as in lakes, they make’ 
no dam or bank ; but, as rivers and brooks are fubjett to 
rife and fall, they build a bank to form a pond, or piece of 
water, which (hall always remain at the fame height; this 
embankment traverfes the river from fide to fide, like a 
fluice, and is often from eighty to a hundred feet long, by 
ten or twelve thick at the bafe. They generally choofe a 
(hallow part of the river for this purpofe, or a brook run¬ 
ning through a narrow flat vale; if they find a large tree 
on the bank, which can be made to fall in a proper direc¬ 
tion, they begin by cutting it down to form the principal 
part of their work; and, though-often thicker than the 
body of a man, they gnaw it through in a very (hurt time, 
and always contrive to make it fall exactly in the diredtion 
beft fitted for their purpofe; they next cut the branches 
from the trunk to make it lie level; and, while this is car¬ 
rying on by one part of the community, others are em¬ 
ployed in cutting down fmaller trees, of various fizes, from 
that of a man’s leg to the thicknefs of a thigh ; thefe they 
drefs, and Gut into proper lengths for (takes, then drag 
them to the edge of the river, and afterwards float them 
to the place where the work is carrying on. Some are 
employed to place feveral rows of thefe (takes upright in 
the line of the embankment, as piles to fupport the weight, 
while others, diving to the bottom of the water, dig holes 
to receive their lower ends: thefe piles are interwoven 
with the fmaller branches, to add to the general (Irength. 
This wooden frame is then filled with earth, which they 
carry in their mouths, and with their fore feet, to the 
fpot, where it is beat up into mortar with their feet and 
tails, and then rammed into all the intervals of the piles, 
which, towards the lower part of the river, are fixed in a 
perpendicular fituation, while thofe above, which have to 
fupport the immediate weight of the water, are fixed in an 
oblique direction, with their upper extremities pointing 
downwards. Thus,by a patient continuance of their united 
and aftonifhing labours, they complete their folid embank¬ 
ment, which is ten or twelve feet thick at the bale, and 
gradually (lopes to the top, where it is reduced to two or 
three feet. At the top of the bank they leave two or 
three (loping (hallow gaps, to allow the fur-face water to 
efcape, and they contradl or enlarge thefe according to 
the quantity of water in the river. Having completed 
their embankment, their next operation is to conftruft ca¬ 
bins or houfes, which they perform with the fame won¬ 
derful ingenuity by which their dam was accomplifhed : 
thefe are built on piles near the margin of their artificial 
pond, having two doors or openings, one for going to the 
land, the other for getting into the water: the houfes are 
either round or oval, being conftrutled, like the.dam, of 
piles wattled with branches, and filled up with ((ones and 
prepared earth; the walls, which are two feet thick, rife 
perpendicular for feveral feet, and are then regularly arch¬ 
ed, like the top of an oven. Sometimes the houfes confift 
only of one (lory, fometimes of three or four; and they are 
of various fizes, holding from two to eighteen, twenty, and 
even thirty, individuals; and each village or community 
contains from tenor twelve to twenty, or even twenty-five, 
cabins ; each cabin has in its neighbourhood a magazine 
of bark, and boughs of trees, for winter provifion, kept 
10 JR. conftantly 
