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Loraqua le document est trop grand pour Atra raproduit an un seul clichA, il est fiimA A partir de Tangle supArisur gauche, da gauche A droite, et de haut an isas, an prenant la nombra d'Imagas nAcessaira. Las diagrammas suivanta lliuatrent la mAthode. I by errata mad to nent une peiure. fapon A 1 2 3 sx 1 2 3 4 5 6 Plate I Fpom. ecfhothog i\x^A . J'SBuucJ, Son. t A.Ptdf AMERICAN BEAVER. I ei \ ii t » 11 rtr I ^o x\^ yf,\i\>f A ^ THE ' »;*» fo PHILADBLPHIA: J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 1868. I Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by LEWIS H. MORGAN, In the Clerk's OfBoe of the District Court of the United States in and for the Northern District of New Yorlt. TO SAMUEL P. ELY, Esq., OF MARqUETTE, MICHIGAN, ^hiti V0tttw« in iufittihtA AS A SLIGHT MEMENTO OP THE LONG AND UNINTERRUPTED FRIENDSHIP WHICH HAS SUBSISTED BETWEEN HIM AND THE AUTHOR. ROCHUTB*, New YOKK, November 21, 1867. (iii) "Natural Hiitory, then, should be bued on what is called a Syttem of Nature; or a great Catalogue, in which all beings bear acknowledged names, may be recog- nized by distinctive characters, and distributed in divisions and subdivisions them- selves named and characterized, in which they may be found." — Cuvitr'i Animal Kingdom, Intro. 15. " And after all, what does it matter to science that thousands of species, more or less, should be described and entered in our systems, if we know nothing about thtm}"—Agattiz't Nat. Hut. U. S., i. 57. (iv) 1 PREFACE. Trk pablication of Ouvier's Animal Kingdom established an epoch in the science of zoology. This eminent scholar brought to bis subject the critical and reflective powers of a great intellect, and the varied and profound acquirements of a laborions life. Having possessed himself of the results of antecedent as well as contemporary investigations, and extended his researches with more or less exactness, over the entire animal kingdom, he was enabled to construct, upon the " System of Nature," that remark- able system for the classification of animals, which now forms the basis of zoological science.* This system of classification is founded exclusively upon the anatomical structure of animals, whence comparative anatomy is the source of its materials. It not only rejects the habits and properties of animals as immaterial and transient, but it also leaves out of consideration their mental endowments, which, how- ever important in other respects, were incapable of affording a basis of classification. Under its clear and definite discriminations all the species of each of the four great branches of the animal kingdom are seen in intelligible and harmonious relations, notMrithstanding their striking diversities of form. Unity of type runs through the structural organization of all the individuals comprised in each of these branches. The grandeur of this fourfold plan of creation is not more impressive than the wonderful adaptation of the sai> rounding elements to the condition and wants of the multitude of animal organisms which God has made. It is not, however, the whole of the science of zoology to ^ Agassis dates the new period from 1812, "when Guvier laid before the Academy of Sciences in Paris the results of his investigations * * * which had satisfied him that all animals were constructed upon four different jH&nB."— Natural History United Statu, i. 198. The "Regne Animal" did not appear, however, until 1816. (V) 71 PREFACE. furni.^h a HyHtnimtic catalogue of anitualB, with its cxpoBltioD lim* it(!(l to tilt! frif^id dvtailH of anatomical Mructuru. ThiH would rt'Htrict it to dead rntliur than to living forniH. Each aniniul is endowed with u living, and, uIho, with a ttiinking principlu, tho manifustationH of each of which are not Iuhm important and in- Htructlvo than tho niechaninm of tho material frames in which they reside. In a comparative Henuo tho former are intrinuically of higher concernment. A monograph upon each of tho principal animals seems, there- fore, to bo desirable, if not absolutely necessary, to All out, in some measure, this great programme ; and to completo the super- structure of a science, the foundations of which have been so admirably established. These should contain a minute exposi- tion of their artificial works, where such are constructed ; of their habits, their mode of life, and their mutual relations. When the facts bearing upon those several subjects have been collected and systematized, the necessary materials will be furnished for the proper elucidation of the long neglected subject of Animal Psy- chology. This volume upon "The American Beaver and his Works," although it falls much below the dignity and completeness of a monograph, is oflfered as an experiment in this special undertaking of collecting and systematizing our knowledge of the habits and mode of life of the inferior animals. Whether the zoologist will turn aside from the more intricate and fascinating subjects of his science to consider the personal acts and artificial erections of this bumble, but most industrious mute ; and whether the general reader will find either pleasure or profit in studying the manifest- ations of intelligence by a single animal, when spread out with so much detail, I cannot pretend to form an opinion. A treatise overdone is as distasteful to the reader as one imperfectly exe- cuted; and since this is liable to both objections, it is submitted, not without misgivings, to the public judgment. As books of this description are more or less accidental pro- ductions, it is sometimes proper to state how they came to be written. Notwithstanding some reluctance to enter upon per- sonal details, there is, in the present case, an urgent necessity for a brief explanation to bespeak the confidence of the reader in the results of this investigation. It furnishes an apology for introducing the following statement. PREFACE. Vll In the yonr iHA'i a Railroad wa^4 pn)J<>cto(l and coniinfincwd by tho lato Ilonoraltio llt'man H. Kly, to o|Mffion on th(> Houth Hhoro of Lake «Su|)urior, and introductt itn rich and ini^x- hauMtihio or«H into tho nianufocturinfr indnHtry of tho country. In thirt untcrprixo hiH brothcrH, Snniud T. Kly, (ioitrgo II. Kly, and John F. Kly, and thoir undo, tho lato Horvty Kly,' then rcHidonts, oxcopt one, of Rochentcr, New York, woro anHociated. Tho niajf- nitudo of tho undortakinf^ will bo approciatod whon it is Htatnd that thitt ontiro rogion was thon an uninhabited wilderncHH, with tho exception of a few hamlota at Marquctto, the proHont port of tho iron diHtrict on Lake Su|>erlor, and a few log cabiuH at tho Iron mines, which had shortly boforo boon dlBcovorod, bat woro still undeveloped. At that time tho St. Mary's Ship Canal, which three ycara '.iter connected tho lower lakes with Lako Supttrior, although projected, was not conmienccd ; consequently naviga- tion between these lakes was obstructed by the rapids in tho Ht. Mary's Kiver. Besides this obstacle, it was five hundred miles from Marquctto to Detroit, the nearest point from which supplies could be obtained. Notwithstanding those formidablo difUcultios, the Messrs. Ely persovorod in the enterprise until 1856, when thoy found it advisable, after a large expenditure, to accept the co-oporation of other parties in the further prosecution of the work. Joseph S. Fay, Esq., of Boston, Edwin Parsons, Eot.|., of New York, and some other capitalists, were then admitted into the association. In 1858 the Railroad was completed to the three principal iron locations, and in 1865 to Lake Michigame, after an expenditure of about a million and a half of dollars. Under the stimulus of commercial causes a Railroad was thus constructed through a rugged wilderness for a distance of forty > I oannot mcntioa the name of my venerable and noble friend, now do- oeased, without expressing my high appreciation of his great abilities, of his genial and unselfish nature, and of his liberal aod enlightened senti- ments. He will be favorably remembered as one of the great men of liis day and generation. Born in West Springfield, Massachusetts, January 10th, 1791, he established himself in Rochester in 1813, where he engaged extensively in manufacturing and commercial enterprises, in which he con- tinued until 1861, when he retired from business. He died in this city, November 28d, 1862. It was my privilege to know him intimately for nearly twenty years; and this passing tribute to his memory is founded upon personal knowledge of his worth. Vlll PREFACE. miles, and opened a country which, but for its mineral deposits, would have been pronounced unfit for human habitation. With its unequalcd summer climate, and its unlimited mineral wealth, it has now become one of the most attractive regions within our national limits. It so happened that this Railroad passed through a beaver dis- trict, more remarkable, perhaps, than any other of equal extent to be found in any part of North America. By opening this wil- derness in advance of all settlement, the beavers were surprised, so to speak, in the midst of their works, which, at the same time, were rendered accessible for minute and deliberate investigation, in a manner altogether unusual. A rare opportunity was thus oflfered to examine the works of the beaver, and to see him in his native wilds. Having been associated in this enterprise from its commence- ment, as one of the directors of the Railroad Company, and as one of its stockholders, business called me to Marquette, first in 1855, and nearly every summer since to the present iime. After the completion of the Railroad to the iron mines, Ic was impossible to withstand the temptation to brook-trout fishing, which the streams traversing the intermediate and adjacent districts oflfered in ample measure. My friend, Gilbert D. Johnson, Supermtendent of the Lake Superior Mine, had established boat stations at convenient points upon the Carp and Esconauba Rivers, and to him I am specially indebted first, for a memorable experience in brook-trout fishing, and secondly, for an introduction to the works of the beaver within the areas traversed by these streams. Our course, in passing up and down, was obstructed by beaver dams at short intervals, from two to three feet high, over which we were com- pelled to draw our boat. Their numbers and magnitude could not fail to surprise as well as interest any observer. Although constructed in the solitude of the wilderness, where the forces of nature were still actively at work, it was evident that they had existed and been maintained for centuries by the permanent impression produced upon the rugged features of the country. The results of the persevering labors of the beaver were suggest- ive of human industry. The streams were bordered continuously with beaver meadows, formed by overflows by means of these dams, which had destroyed the timber upon the adjacent lands. Fallen trees, excavated canals, lodges, and burrows, filled up the V PREFACE. IX measure of their works. These together seemed to me to afTord a much greater promise of pleasure than could be gained with the fish-pole, and very soon, accordingly, the beaver was substi- tuted for the trout. I took up the subject as I did fishing, for summer recreation. In the year 1861, I had occasion to visit the Red River Settlement in the Hudson's Bay Territory, and in 1862, to ascend the Missouri River to the Rocky Mount- ains, which enabled me to compare the works of the beaver in these localities with those on Lake Superior. At the outset I had no expectation of following up the subject year after year, but was led on, by the interest which it awakened, until the mate- rials collected seemed to be worth arranging for publication. Whether this last surmise is well or ill founded, I am at least cer- tain that no other animal will be allowed to entrap the unambi- tious author so completely as he confesses himself to have been by the beaver. My unrestrained curiosity has cost me a good deal of time and labor. After measuring and attempting to sketch a number of these dams, I found it impossible to reproduce even a feeble copy. It was evident that the photographic art was alone capable of handling such a complicated subject ; and of fixing, once for all, its remarkable features. It seemed, also, to be extremely desir- able to secure an accurate representation of these structures while they were in a perfect state, as well as accessible ; since it was certain that they would be abandoned by the beavers with the establishment of settlements in their vicinity, after which they would speedily fall into decay. While maturing a plan to take into the country for this purpose a party of photographers, the desire was gratified by the adventure of Mr. James A. Jenney, who came to Marquette in 1861, with an instrument and the necessary appliances for taking landscape views. With him I made an arrangement for a series of photographs. The following year, my friend, the Rev. Josiah Phelpa, rector of St. Peter's Church at Marquette, who had taken up this beautiful art as an amateur, generouf ly placed his instrument and his services at ray disposal, and thus a large number of additional photographs were obtained from time to time. The engravings in this volume, with some exceptions, were made from selections from these photographs. In addition to these, I made a general beaver collection, suffi- X PREFACE. ciently ample to illustrate other branches of the subject, consist- ing of mounted specimens of the beaver, and of his skeleton, skulls, pelts, tree cuttings, and limb and pole cuttings, of all sizes and kinds, engravings of specimens of which arc given in the following pages. It has been my aim to speak in all cases, in which it was pos- sible, from original specimens. In this manner, truth and cer- tainty are both secured, and the amount of necessary description is greatly abridged. It will be found, in tho sequel, that this account of the beaver rests essentially upon actual works repro- duced by the photograph and copied by the engraver. Whatever value it may possess is chiefly referable to this fact. Marquette, which in 1853 consisted of a few scattering houses, now contains twenty-eight hundred Inhabitants. Situated upon a bay of Lake Superior, and prosperous upon the large business of the iron region, it is not too much to say that it is the most beautiful village of the Northwest. The large investments made for the development of the mineral wealth, and for the prosecu- tion of the constantly increasing trade of the iron district, have drawn to it a higher and more intelligent class of business men than is usually found in villages of its size ; and this, in turn, has given to Marquette, in a social sense, its superior and attractive character. The climate also — a fact not suspected until the coun- try was opened — is one of the finest, in the summer, to be found within the limits of the United States; while in the winter, from its steadiness and uniformity, it is less trying than that of New England or New York. Marquette is destined to become a city; and the principal centre of business on Lake Superior.' Besides the persons previously named, I am under very great obligations to many others for co-operation, information, and assistance, in various ways, while engaged upon this investiga- iThis railroad, which was first known as the "Iron Mountain," then as the "Bay de Noquet and Marquette," and now as the " Marquette and On- tonagon Railroad," has carried down from the mines to Marquette the fol- lowing amounts of iron ore : In 1868 31,000 Tons. 1869 66,000 " 1860 116,000 " 1861 46,000 «« 1862 116,000 " In 1863 200,000 Tons. 1864 260,000 •' 1866 200,000 «• 1866 210,000 " 1867 270,000 " PREFACE. XI tion. First among thcin is my friend, Samuel P. Ely, Esq.. now a resident of Marquette, and Vice-President and Managing ^0 CHARACTERISTICS AND HABITAT. how little can be gleaned from the Greek authors with reference to the beaver. Herodotus speaks of him (iv. 109) as a well-known animal, but without giving any particulars. ^Elian describes him (Hist. Anim., Lib. vi. c. xxxiv.) as aquatic in his habits, spending the daytime concealed in the rivers, and roving by night upon the land. Strabo (Geograph,, iii. 163) contents himself with pronouncing the castoreum of the Spanish inferior to that of the Pontic beaver; while Aristotle knew so little with reference to him that he describes the same animal under the names of castor {xdffTtop) and latax {xdra^) as two diflferent animals.^ tus is one of the oldest authorities for the mistake first mentioned. Book 17. ^. 109. Thus Ovid— Sic, ubi detracta est a te tibi caassa pericli, Quod saperest, tatam, Pootice castor, ^abes. Nux Elegia, 165. And Juvenal — — imitatus castora, que se Eunuchnm ipse facit, cupiens evadere damno Testiculi, adeo medicatum intelligit unguen. Sat., xii. 34. Pliny, however, elsewhere states that Sextus, a Roman physi- cian, questioned the truth of this statement. Vide Lib. xxxix. c. xiii. ' "Certain wild quadrupeds," he remarks, "also seek food around the lakes and rivers, but around no sea, the searcalf (seal) excepted. Of this genus are the beaver (xdarmp) and satherion (ffaOsptov), and satyr {aarupiov), and otter {ivuSpoi^), and lata^ {kdra^), which is broader than the otter, and provided with teeth very much more robust. Going forth commonly by night, it eats off the nearest bushes with its teeth. The otter also bites men, nor, as they say, does he loose his hold before he shall have 86 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. Another interesting fact with reference to the bea- ver is that of his great antiquity upon the earth. A presumption to this effect would arise from his coarse subsistence and his aquatic habits; but it is confirmed by decisive evidence. Both the European and Amer- ican beavers are found in a fossil state, and under con- ditions which establish for each of them a very ancient epoch for their first existence among living animals. Upon the European fossil beaver, Owen observes: " That the present European beaver is not the degen- erate descendant of the great Trogontlierium is proved, not only by the differences in the dental structure pointed out in the preceding section, but likewise by the fact that beavers in no respect differing in size or anatomical characters from the Castor Europsem of the present day, coexisted with the Trogcntherium. Re- mains of the beaver have been discovered by Mr. Green in the same fossilized condition, and under cir- cumstances indicative of equal antiquity with tiie extinct mammoth, in the lacustrine formations at Bacton. * * * Remains of the beaver have been found associated with those of the mammoth, hippo- potamus, rhinoceros, hyena, and other extinct mam- mals, in the pleistocene fresh-water or drift formations of the Vald'Arno; and remains of both Trogontlterium and Castor were found fossil by Dr. Schmerling in the ossiferous caverns in the neighborhood of Liege. * * heard the cracking from the bones. The hair of the latax, which is intermediate between that of the deer and seal, is rough." (nep\ Zmtov 0. C Sean. vii. 5. Ed. Schneid. i. p. 362.) Pliny, by some misapprehension, speaks {supra) of the beaver as having the same pertinacioas bite ascribed properly by Aristotle to the otter. POSITION IN ANIMAL KINGDOM. 37 But the most common situation in which the remains of the beaver are found in this island, as on the Con- tinent, is the turbary peat-bog, or moss-pit. * * * Reuiains of the Castor Earopsciis have been found at the depth of eight feet and a half beneath peat, rest- ing upon a stratum of clay, with much decayed and seemingly charred wood, associated with remains of megaceros, or great Irish deer, at Higley, Norfolk."' Bea\er-gnawed wood was found in the same cavity with, and five feet . '>ove the skeleton of the mastodon disco 7ered in 1867, at Cohoes, near Albany, New York. This wood, which was first noticed by Dr. S. B. Wool- worfch, is now in the State Cabinet of Natural History. It appeal's from the description of Prof. James Hall, who personally superintended the removal of the prin- cipal bones, that this mastodon was found in a pothole excavated in the shale rock (Hudson River group), and more than forty feet below the surface. The remains were imbedded in clay and river ooze, resting upon gravel, and covered with an accumulation of peat. In the presence of this beaver-gnawed wood so near the mastodon, some evidence is furnished that the beaver and the mastodon were contemporaneous.* The fossil remains of the Trogontherium were first discovered by Fischer on the borders of the Sea of Azof, and afterward in various parts of England. Cuvier placed him in the genus Castor, and gave the name ' British Fossil Mammals and Birds. Lond. ed., 1846, p. 190. ■ Prof. Hall, in describing the position and relations in which this skeleton was found, remarks : " In the peaty deposits* where these bones have occurred, the remains of recent or existing vege- tation are present; and the relations of these deposits show very clearly that the surface of the country has undergone no important 88 TEE AMERICAN BEAVER. / Upon Fischer's description. Owen afterward, by means of additional specimens, detected variations in the forms of the jaws and teeth which led him to question this classification, and to assert a sub-generic position for this animal. He remarks : " The well-marked dif- ferences which the English fossils have demonstrated, not only in the proportions, but in the form and struc- ture of the teeth of the Trogontherium, will, I trust, be allowed to yield the same grounds for its sub-gen- eric distinction as has been proposed or accepted by the best modern zoologists for the subdivisions of the same value in the rest of the rodent order."^ The Trogontherium was about one-fifth larger than the Eu- ropean beaver, the skull measuring seven inches and three lines from the occipital ridge to the most convex part of the incisors. Since both the European beaver and the Trogon- iherium have been found in a fossilized state in the newer pliocene formations, and in deposits which have yialded remains not only of the mammoth and the rhinoceros, but also of the mastodon, and since there is evidence tending to show that the American beaver was cotemporaneous with the mastodon, the generic type of Castor, and also the family type of Castoridss are thus carried far back into the tertiary period. Upon the American Continent the American bea- modification since the period of the mastoaon. This animal, and the fossil elephant, Elephus primigeneus, were coeval with the existing flora and the present conditions of the surface of the con- tinent ; and there are no reasons, geologically, why they may not have coexisted with the hnman race." ' British Fossil Mammals and Birds, p. 188. POSITION IN ANIMAL KINGDOM. 89 ver has likewise been found in a fossil state. On this subject, Baird remarks: "The bone caves at Carlisle yielded a large number of remains of beaver, both young and old. There are no satisfactory points of difference from the existing species, although in size some of the teeth are larger than any recent speci- mens I have seen, indicating a length of quite six inches for the skull.'" As the European beaver bus its prototype in the Trogontlierium, so the Americtn species had its fore- runner in Cdstoroides, a gigantic fossil beaver, surpass- ing in size all existing as well as extinct rodents. But few specimens have as yet been found. The first was described by Foster and named Castoroides Ohio- ensis; and the second by Hall and Wyman. The lat- ter was found in a lacustrine formation subsequent to the drift in Wayne County, New York. From the geological relations in which these fossil remains were discovered. Hall pronounces Castoroides cotempora- neous with the mastodon. The skull, measured from a cast in my collection, is ten inches and fifteen hun- dredths in its greatest length, and seven inches and sixty hundredths in its greatest width. He must have been five or six times larger than the beaver of the present time. Baird observes that the genus Ccis- toroides is nearer to the genus Trogontlierium than to Castor, which is an interesting fact, showing that the fossil genera are nearer to each other than either is to the existing genua. Although it thus appears that three distinct genera of the beaver family — if Trogontherium stands inde- ^ Explorations for a Railroad Route, etc. to the Pacific, viii. 361. Ill •iHM4u'.L:WiSM<«ilMMlkiaBiaMti\€..»T-i<^'M.<«'i / / / 40 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. pendent of Castor — have been ascertained, and that the existence of its distinctive type extends backward well toward the earhest epoch of mammalian life upon the earth, yet it seems that the position of this family in the animal kingdom is not as yet fully determined. Whether the Caatorkl^ are entitled to the full rank of an independent family, or should be attached, as a sub-family, to some other group, is the question. Brandt, whose treatise upon the rodents is particu- larly elaborate with reference to the beaver, gives prominence to this question, and also to that of the specific differences between the European and American beavers. He proposes to divide the ro- dent order into four sub-orders, and to arrange the genera in twelve independent families. Under this classification the Castoridse become an independent family of full rank. " The general structure," he ob- serves, "and especially the character of the skull being more accurately considered, the order of the Gnawers manifests, as it seems to me, four quite dis- tinct types, exhibiting the equivalent of the sub-orders JSciuromorpha, Myomorpha, Hystricliomorpha, and Lev- ymnorplia, of each of which respectively the common genera Sciurus, Mus. Hystrix, and Lepvs, know^n to all, may be declared the foundations. The four types just indicated appear by no means to be constantly separated by ascertained differences, but they rather offer, by means of common marks and intermediate forms, a series bound in unity with sufl&cient con- cord."' The Castoridse are placed in the second sub- * " Strnctura generali et prsesertim cranii ratione accnratins con- sideratis Glirium Ordo typos quatuor admodum distinctos, ut mihi POSITION IN ANIMAL KINGDOM. 41 order {Myomorplia) , in which it constitutes the second family, and the third in the general series from the first. This arrangement appears merely to transfer without obviating the difficulty, and tends to compli- cate rather than simplify the question. Baird introduces into the family Castoridse the genus Aplodontia, consisting of a single species found in Oregon, and confined to the Northwest Coast. Tn some features of the teeth and skull it resembies Castor, and in other particulars affiliates equally well with other genera of rodents. He then, having placed the Scluridse, as other zoologists have done, in the front rank of the rodent order, attaches the genera Aplodontia, Castor^ and Castoroidea to this group as a sub-family, expressing, however, a doubt as to the propriety of the arrangement in the following lan- guage : " There has been of late a decided tendency to place them near or amoiig the Scivridse. In this view I am disposed to concur, although there still remains the question, whether the two are not typical of as many different sub-families, themselves forming a family of full rank."* Although unqualified to ofier any solution of this problem, it appears to me plain that the greater rela- videtar, subordinam valorem exhibentes manifestat : Olires, Sciu- romorphos, Myomorphos, Hystrichomorphos, et Lagomorphos, quorum quidem singulorum fundameuta gencralia genera Sciurus, Mus. Eystrix, et Lepus omnibus nota declarari possunt. Typi quatuor modo dici vero notis constanter diversis minime disjancti apparent, sed notarum commuuium formarumque intermediaram ope series potius satis barmonice in unitatem conjunctas offerant." — Mcmoires de Academie Imperiale des Sciences de St. Peters- bourg. Sixth series. Sciences Naturelles, tome vii. 292. ' Explorations for a Railroad Route, etc., viii. 350. i \ 1 i ! ,; t • 1 J 42 THE AMERICAN BEAViSR. tive antiquity of the three genera Castor, CatitoroideSf and Trogontherium, and the unique and distinctive type of animal life which they represent, should de- termine the question in favor of the independence of the Castoridas as a family. Another question remains, namely: whether the American and European beavers are the same or dif- ferent species. LinnoBUS, who founded the genus Cas- tor in 1735, made but one species — C. Fiber. The earlier naturalists, from Linnaeud to Bufibn and Cu- vier, accepted, without investigation, the specific iden- tity of the European and American species. According to Brandt (M^moires, etc., 44), Oken was the first in time (1816) who thought upon the question of a possible* difference of species. In 1819, Frederick Ciwier (Hist. Nat. des Mamifers, No. 16) gave a pretty full description of the external characteristics of a Canada beaver in the Garden of Plants, but without discussing the question of its possible difference from the European. Again in 1825 (lb.. No. 51) he de- scribed a beaver of the Rhone, compared its skull with that of an American beaver, and then, for the first time, pointed out the differences in its skull which have since been recognized as establishing distinct- ness of species. He also named the American beaver Castor AmericanuSj and the European Castor Gallicus. Between these two periods (1820), Kuhl described a Canada beaver in the British Museum, and named it Castor Canadensis: but his description failed to show any grounds of specific difference.^ * " Castor Canadensis." " Supra rufaa, infra rufescente cinereus. Extremitatum pallide brunescentium piles adpressis, brevibas, POSITION IN ANIMAL KINGDOM. 43 Owen (1846), disregarding Fr. Cuvier's name of the European beaver, calls him Ciudnr Europxus, in which he is followed by Brandt and other zoologists. With respect to the American beaver, if specifically different, it is doubtful whether there is such a priority of scien- tific determination in favor of Kuhl's name. Castor Canadensis, as to enforce its acceptance. Castor Amer- Icanua, from the great extent of his habitat, would be more appropriate. The question, however, of a specific name for the American beaver is at least premature. It is neces- sary, first, to show that they are of different species, which cannot as yet be conclusively asserted. Brandt, who has investigated this subject more elaborately than any other zoologist, came to the same conclusion as Fr. Cuvier, that they were specifically different. Sinct publication of his memoir upon the Rodents, this conclusion has been very generally acquiesced in by zoologists. It appears, however, that his observa- tions and comparisons were limited to eight skulls of the European, and five of the American beaver. The differences revealed by these skulls undoubtedly justi- fied the inference of difference of species. A com- parison of a much larger number of skulls might show, nevertheless, that the variations relied upon were not constant; and such has proved to be the case. For the purpose of testing ^h*; constancy of these assumed variatic ns, I increased my collection of Incidis. Unguibus tegalaribas obtnsis, corneis Cauda applanata, piles ad basin squamarum raris et brevibas. Dentibos sarrnfis. Lougitado corporis, 22^, poll, caudee, 7". Ejusque latitudo, 2^ poUicam. Ad Fretam Hudson!. In Musco Britanico." — Beitriige zur zoologie und Yerleichenden Anatomise. Fraukf., 4, p. 64. II 44 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. / / ii I American beaver skulls to ninety-eight. Benide these, seven American skulls and one European were loaned from the Smithsonian ('ollection, and two American from the New York State Collection, which increased the whole number of American skulls examined to one hundred and seven. A comparison shows that the several variations be ween the skulls of the European and American beavers, claimed to exist by Brandt, are not constant; that the supposed differ- ences shade off into each other and disappear, and that the tendency to diverge, which plainly exists, is no greater or stronger than would be unavoidably due to the long-continued separation of these stocks, and to climatic influences inseparable from their widely- extended habitat. If brought together, they would, without doubt, produce, inter se, a fertile offspring. The anatomical differences between them are probably less than between individuals of the most strongly contrasted families of mankind. It will not be neces- sary to present the comparative measurements in this connection, as they are fully given in Appendix "A," to which the reader is referred. The tendency to variation, however, is sufficiently marked to charac- terize the American and European beavers as varie- ties of the same species, which is the most that can, at present, be claimed. This would fix the nomencla- ture for the first as Castor Fiber, var. Americanus, and of the second, as Castor Fiber, var. Europams. The beaver, in the duration of his distinctive type, is one of the oldest of living mammals. He is also shown to have been the cotemporary of many species now extinct. His coarse subsistence, aquatic habits, rugged strength, and prolific nature, eminently fitted POSITION IN ANIMAL KLVGIHIM. 45 him for a lonj^ career of life u|)on the earth, traiiH- mitted tlirough tlie speeieH. It is not iiiH)rolnil)le that his first api^earance antedates tlie present confiji,ura- tion of the continents. Of the mastodon hut one species, I believe, has been found in America, while severol have been discovered in Euroixi and Asia, neither of which is identical with the American spe- cies. IIow the beaver, adopting the conclusion of hut a single species, propagated himself from one con- tinent to the other, may be wholly unexplainable; but it does not affect the question whether the two beavers are of the same, or of different species. Of all the mammals without the Arctic Circle in Europe and America, with the exception of man, the beavers of the two continents are probably the only individ- uals whose specific identity can be established by anatomical comparisons. The second chapter and Appendix A, as has else- where been stated, are from the pen of Dr. W. W. Ely, whose able and thorough exposition of the anatomical structure of the American beaver will command the attention of the comparative anatomist, and prove in- structive to the general reader. The comparison of the skulls, referred to on the preceding page, was made by him. •*»!»'.■. JtWr^-^ . CHAPTER II. ANATOMY OP tjik BEAVER. / Intrnduclion — DoscripUon — Skoleton — Skull — Toctli — Muscles — Internal OrgHiiii: Mouth, Stomuch, IntcMlinoH, Ciocutn, Heart, Lungs, Liver, Hi)lRun — RcHpiration of A<{uatio Anlmala — Hraiu. ArrENiiix A. 1. Measurements of Skull. 2. Differences between Euro- pean ami American Beavers considered. 8. Castorouni Organs, and Gen- erative Organs. In the study of animals for the purpose of determ- ining their zoological relations, it has been found necessary not only to consider their external charac- teristics, but also to investigate their internal struc- ture. The distinction of species is often impossible without the aid of anatomical research. In the case of the beaver, the closely-allied European and Amer- ican animals could not be distinguished by anything in their external conformation. Anatomists resort, therefore, to a minute investigation of the cranial and other structures to discover essential points of differ- ence. For this reason, some account of the anatomy of the beaver seems appropriate to the present volume, which, although popular in its character, is sufficiently comprehensive in its design to admit of the introduc- tion of the scientific element. A somewhat general resum^ of beaver anatomy has been attempted in order to give greater completeness to the work. It would be impossible, in the limits of a chapter, to give all the details belonging to this subject, which would re- (46) ANATOMY OP THE UKAVKR. 47 quirr a special treatise. Tlie same objection applies to freiiueiit references to comparative anatomy. If the scientific reader reciuire^J any other ai>()lt>gy for uniissions in the !s on tlie outer margin, below the middle of tlie bone, from which a sharp edjo extends above and Ijelow; a deep pit exists on the under side of the great trochanter. The tibia is 0" 2-3'" long, triangular above. Its body is excavated on each side of the posterior angle : be- low it is rounded, with but sn.all development of the malleolar process. The i^bu'a forms a strong outer malleolar process in close apposition to the astragalus. It is attached for 1" 2-3" to the lower end of ihe tibia, and after the epiphyses become consolidated the union is by anchy- losis. The upper n\d of the fibula lies behind the tibia, and has a hauiular process pointing outwardly and downward, which gives attachment to a strong ligament that extends from the lower part of the lx)ne and passes from the process in c^uestion to the femur, forming an outer lateral ligament to the knee-joint. Tiie patella is subtriangular in form with the base above. The plane of the foot is oblique with respect to the leg, requiring the feet to approximate to rest on a level surface. The tarsal bones are 8 in number. The astragalus requires no particular description. The calcaneura is fattened obliquely on its upper and under surfaces, and projects backward 84'" 't articu- lates with the astragalus and the cuboid. The sca- phoid has a neck and a rounded head which is seen in the bottom of the fout. A nameless bone, subcon- ical in shape, which is projjerly an appendage to the scaphoid, articul ites with the astragalus on tae inside 9W. -i L.'i 2E ANATOMY OF THE BEAVER. 00 of the foot and receives the apex of the first cunei- form, which is flattened and notched at the distal end to receive the phahmjieal biMie of the first toe. A small cuneiform is articulated with the 2d meta- tarsal, and a large one with the 3d metatai-sal. receiv- ing also the head of the 4th metatarsal, which is the largest of its class. A jwrtion of this 4th metatarsal is articulated with the cuboid. The -Jth metatarsal is joined to the side of the 4th, and has no connei'tion with the tarsus. On the tarsal end < i the first toe a movable fiat bone is placed, answerihg by its connec- tion with muscles, the purposes of a patella. The peculiarities of the tarsal articulation are: the supplementary scaphoid bone, the form and position of the 1st cuneiform and the connections of the 4th and oth metatarsals. The sesauioid bones are found as usual. The pha- langes present nothing remarkable. The terminal ones, to which the claws are attached, are furnished With a bony process to suppoit the claw. The first tc« is smallest and shortest, then the oth and the 2d: the 3d and 4th are about equal in length. The claws of the 1st and 2d are placed obliquely, being turned inward, so that their points are not worn; the others become blunt and rounded at their extremities. The second toe has an extra claw growinsr from the skin and partly covered by the regular claw ; it is flattened laterally and has a sharp edge above and a point. The claws of the fingers are about as long as those of the toes, but are much narrower and more pointed. The l::>t finger h shorter than the 5th; then the 2d, the 4th, and the 3d. The hyoid bone forms a semicircle and has an an- terior projection. 50 THE AMERICAN BEAVEK. THE SKULL. The skull of the boavcr exceeds that of other ro- dents in solidity and strength. It is much elongated, its length being more than twice and a half its height. Its upper line is nearly plane; a parallel line below touches the condyle, the ])alatal bone, and the point of the incisive septum. The principal surface of the occipital bone is vertical to this line. The molars occupy the middle of the skull, being separated by an arched space from the incisors. Viewed from above, the skull presents (piito a different outline, the width being about two-fifths of the length. These propor- tions are shown in the lateral and the top views of the skull (Plate IV.). The nasal bones occupy one-third of the length of the skull; are broadest anteriorly, and at their junc- tion in front form an obtuse point. Their outer margin is a convex curve, where they are joined to the intermaxillaries. Their posterior extremities and those of the intermaxillaries join the frontal on a line with the anterior orbital tubercles of that bone. The intermaxillaries are very strong. A nearly vertical suture connects them with the superior maxillary; a little more than half of the sheath of the incisors is formed by them. The lateral and louder part of the nasal opening in front, which has the form of the ' References to figures of the skull. Plates IV. and V.: 1. Nasal bone. 6. Occipital. 11. Lachrymal. 2. Intermaxillary. 3. Frontal. 4. Parietal. 5. Interparieta'. 7. 'lemporal. 8. Malar. 9. 'i'yuipanic. 10. cfuperior maxillary. 12. Palatal. 13. Pre c>phenoid. 14. Post-sphenoid. 15. Ethmoid. Plate IV LATERAL VIEW Oi" SKULL Na^.size •>; 1 OP VllVV. of 3KULL rs nat s.ze. r ANATOMY OF THK HKAVKR. 57 letter V, i« formed by tliem. The frontal hone \s flattened above. The two honen nro early united, and in the adult present only the trace of a suture. The frontal i.s broadest anteriorly, spreading out to form the anterior orbital i)roces8es. From a rounded margin the orl)ital plate descends nearly vertically into the socket. This margin is a little prominent posteriorly, forming a smaller process. From this point the bone is wedge-lbrm, passing backward between the parietals. In the orbital cavity the frontal joins the lachrymal, the superior maxillary and the ala of the pre-sphenoid. The lachrymal is triangular above, wedged in between the frontal and malar; it forms part of the inner anterior portion of the orbit. The parietal bones are about half the length of the skull. They are united in their middle third by suture, being separated anteriorly by the frontal bone, and behind by the interparietal; they extend back to the occipital and join the temporals by a longitudinal suture. Their anterior margin in the temporal fossoo is inflected, roughened, forming a crest which extends on the temporal to the zygomatic process; in uie fossa3 they join the ala) of both sphe- noids; posteriorly and laterally their pointed extremi- ties extend a short distance behind the temporals. The interparietal bone is triangular, but very variable in its form in different skulls. In young subjects it is in two portions, divided by the sagittal suture; in old skulls the place of the suture is occupied by a sharp crest. The base ol this bone joins the occipital. The temporal bones are lateral. The zygomatic process extends downward and outward, in a flattened form, to constitute the roof of the glenoid cavity; then 58 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. curves forward to unite with the malar — posteriorly a hooked process of the temporal winds around the back part of the auditory tube to the base of the mas- toid process. Anteriorly and inferiorly it joins the ala of the post-sphenoid, and posteriorly it embraces the tympanic bone; the sutures of this bone are squa- mous. The glenoid cavity is a flattened groove of greater width than length, its outer margin formed by the abrupt termination of the malar, the inner boundary being the vertical portion of the temporal; the lower jaw moves freely, in a longitudinal direc- tion, back inio the space between the glenoid groove and the auditory tube. The vertical portion of the occipital bone is much roughened for muscular attachment. Its upper mar- gin is a sharp ridge, in front of which is the trans- verse suture. In young subjects the ridge is wanting. The occipital foramen is subtriangular or rounded — broader than its height. The condyles look down- ward, outward, and backward. The basilar portion lies between the tympanic bones, and is united in front by ligament to the post-sphenoid. An oblong, deep cavity in the basilar portion renders this bone very thin. The mastoid processes of the occipital are lateral to the condyles. In young subjects the bone consists of four portions, viz.: the upper squamous portion, the basilar portion, and the two lateral or condyloid portions. The tympanic bone is very irregular in shape. It forms a small part of the vertical extremity of the skull, and its mastoid process joins that of the occipi- tal. The bulla is thick and prominent. From the posterior part of the auditory tube, a sharp prominent piiiif ni">_;| ^.if ■ ;wy» ANATOMY OF THE BEAVER. 59 crest extends downward to the bottom of the bulla — a long, rough process at the base connects it with the basilar process and the post-sphenoid — it is separated from the ala of the sphenoid by a large fissure — the foramen lacenum basis cranii. The auditory canal is prominent, extending upward, outward, and forward. The styloid bone lies in a groove of the bulla, at- tached by a ligament. The foramen for the Eustachian tube is a little above the junction of the long process of the sphenoid with this bone. The petrous portion has an uneven surface within. Above the internal auditory foramen is a pit which receives a process of the cerebellum, in the margin of which is a semicir- cular canal. The malar bones are long inferiorly. The ascending portion in front is firmly united with the transverse plate of the superior maxillary, the edge of which is seen in front of the malar. Above, the malar forms the ou■,.«■ , 62 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. is also attached to the under surface of each nasal a long curved bone overlapping the turbinate, and serv- ing to retain it in its position. In addition to the ridges or crests which have been described, there are the parietal crests; these start from tlie interparietal crest, and, diverging, terminate at the junction of the temporals and frontal. Their usual form is represented in the top view of the skull, but it is sul^ject to much variation. There is a straight glenoid crest at the junction of the temporal and sphenoid. The top of the hook process of the jugular bone forms a crest continuous with the sharp upper edge of the malar. Delicate ridges extend from the outer margins of the incisive foramina to the front edge of the alveolar processes, and from the temporal jugular process a crest extends backward toward the posterior point of the parietal. The incisive foramina are in the intermaxillaries midway between the incisors and the molars. The spheno-palatine foramen^ \v. just behind the orbital opening of the ante-orbital foramen, and opens into the nostril at the junction of the ethmoid and the s. maxillary. The small optic foramen is in the ala of tlie pre-sphenoid above the transverse opening in the body of the bone. The pt'^rygo-palatine' is lower than the optic, and opens in the anterior part of the palatal bone. The external pterygoid plate is pierced with a large foramen which communicates with the sphenoidal fis.iure by what Cuvier calls the Vidian canal. The condyloid foramina are in front of the ^ These foramina are named from analogy, the first Is entirely in the maxillarv, and the second in the maxillarj and the palatal. ANATOMY OF THE BEAVER. 63 condyles opposite their middle. The lateral foramina in the vertical portion of the occipital are closed in the recent i ubject by membrant,. Wormian bones are occasionally but not commonly found in the sutures. Sometimes a rounded mas^s of bone is imbedded in the larger mastoid process.' The lo\\'er jaw is very massive (Plate V.). Tlie two parts are joined in front by a long and broad sym- physis,' forming below a pointed process. Its poste- rior angle is flattened into a broad process, hollowed within and tipped with a broad long crest — this part extends farther back than the condyle — at the root of the 'condyle on the outer side is a depression; above this the coronoid process arises and is pointed backward. The anterior line of the process passes downward and forward, the crest ter alnating at the extremity of the root of the first mclar. The con- dyle is quadrangular, rounded, and is nearer the coro- noid process than the posterior crest. The foramina for the nutrient vessels, etc. is behind the molars and higher than their crown surfaces; the mental foramen is below the anterior face of the first molar. THE TEETH. The character of the Rodentia as a natural order is made to depend upon a peculiar kind of cutting or incisive teeth, which are separated from the grinding or molar teeth by an empty space, the canine teeth being wanting. The teeth of animals bear a defin- ite relation to their mode of subsi«tence, and from * For measurements of the skull, and diflferences in the European and the American beaver, see appendix A. I 04 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. their correspondence with other structures of the body, the comparative anatomist is able to determine, by an ins[)C'L!tion of these organs alone, the kind of animal to which they belong. The rodents gener- ally derive their food from the vegetable kingdom. Before describing the te^th of the beaver, we may premise for the ge. ;ral • 3e) a few ficts in "elation to the dentia organ. MiOf malian teeth are composed of substances esSviitiiiily i'L,^embling bone, of which three kinds are usually pre^ c viz.: the external hard covering or enamel; dentine, which forms the body of the tooth ; and cementum, or crusta petrosa, which is deposited on the surface, and usually on the dentine of the root. The divisions of a tooth are the crown, or portion above the gum; the root, or part inclosed in the socket; and the neck, or point of junction between the crown and the root. There are three kinds of teeth: the front, or incisive; the back, or molar; and the canine, or intermediate teeth, whose development is a striking feature in the jaws of the Carnivora. These are wanting in the Rodentia, and in the Edentata the incisive teeth are wanting. Some teeth are permanent, while others are deciduous, the so-called milk teeth, whose places are supplied by those of the permanent class. In some cases, teeth, when once formed, are unchangeable in their develop- ment or growth, and are therefore called "rooted" teeth. In other instances the teeth are so constituted that they grow continually as they are worn by use, and are called "rootless" teeth. Rootless teeth are generally cylindric or prismatic, with an expanded open cavity, containing a pulp organ capable of sup- plying an unlimited growth, while the rooted tooth, ANATOMY OF THE BEAVER. e(( when once fully f'oimed, is unchangeable, and tlie root serves mereiy as a support for the crown. The beaver has 20 i?eth, viz., 2 incisors and 8 molars in each jaw. The a terior molars, x in all, are deciduous; the crowns of these teeLh resemble the permanent ones; the u; mr have three divergent roots and the lower two. They are gradually protruded from their sockets by the permanent teeth rising beneath them. Whether the cutting teeth of the beaver should be regarded as co ^ne teeth rather than as incisors, has been questionea, inasmuch as they extend back intr the superior maxillary bone. It is generally held that this relation is only to accommodate their grc^i*- length, and that their uses and connection with i.e intermaxillaries are sufficient to sustain the ordinary view. The incisors of the beaver are nearly tri t'i lar, and extend far into the jaw, with a circular curve, the upper forming more, and the lower less than half the circumference of a circle, the radius of the curve in the upper being one inch, in the lower 1 " 75 ". They are composed chiefly of dentine, having a thin layer of orange-colored enamel on their ante- rior surface and angles. The upper incisors are con- tained in a sheath which projects into the nasal cav- ity, the end of the tooth being separated by a thin vertical plate of bone from the first molar. The lower iucisors pass under the roots of the molars to a point behind them and below the posterior foramina. The dentine of the incisors, being softer than the enamel, wears away and gives to the end of the tooth a beveled or chisel form, with a sharp anterior edge of enamel, so that they are called scalpriform teeth. The portion of the tooth inclosed in the socket has • 6 06 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. a conical cavity, filled with the pulp organ, which furniH Huccossive layers of dentine so that the tooth continues to grow as fast as it is worn away. As it sometimes happens that a tooth of this kind is broken off, the opposite tooth has been found to grow until its outward projection constituted nearly a circle. The incisors, it need hardly be said, are, accordhig to the definition, ''rootless" teeth. The molars are firmly and compactly set in the jaws. The upper set are supported on their outer edge by a firm alve- olar ridge, but on the inside their sockets are shallow. The lower set are more deeply and strongly implanted in the jaw. The first molars are largest and longest, and the last are the f '«• ^- smallest, and project but little from the jaw. The inner surface of the upper molars has one deep longitudinal groove extending to the end of the tooth, and the outer surface three grooves. These are similar, but reversed in tlie lower tooth. The surface of the crown is marked by a complicated folding of enamel, of which a diagram is given (Fig. 3). The dentine between the layers of enamel is worn so as to leave the latter in ridges. Each molar is curved so as to present two concave surfaces. TLo upper set curve backward and outward; the lower set forward and inward. The surface line of the upper set is slightly convex, that of the lower is concave. Their surfaces are thus brought into apposition, and the bearing of the teeth in the sockets is efiected Left upper molar, outside. Left uniler molar, outside. AN'ATOMT OF THE BEAVKU. 67 :l without uncluo pressure on tlieir extrcmitioH. The curves arc rendered ncces.sary also by the position of the teeth in the jaws; the distance between the upjier molars, from side to side, being less than that of the loM-er. The lower set are also longer antero-poste- riorly by half the length of the crown of a tooth than the upper set. The cementum is found on the out- side of the teeth and in the spaces where there are intlections of enamel; but where dentine is opposed to dentine it is not deposited in layers; and, if at all, only in a granular form. The question arises whether the molars, like the incisors, belong to tlie rootless class of teeth. In Prof. Baird's elaborate Report on Mammals,' the sub-family CastorinjB, embracing the genera Castor, Aplodontia, and Castoroides, is deGned as having "rootless molars." Brandt {op. ciL, p. 301) defines the family Castoroides — genus Castor — as hav- ing "raolares radicati" — rooted molars. If we exam- ine the molars of the beaver in the young skull, in their immature condition (Fig. 4), they are found to be prismatic; their extremities in the jaws are expanded, and present all the inflections of enamel seen on the crown surface. In this, their primitive condition, they grow as do other rootless teeth, until the jaws have attained their development. The tooth then becomes rooted (Fig. 5) and incapable of further growth — the pulp cavity contracts, the opening becomes lateral, and is sometimes entirely closed ; Fig. 4. Section of "root- less" molar. ' General Report upon the Zoology of the several Pacific Rail- road Routes, vol. vlii. Mammals. By Spencer P. Baird. Wash- ington, D. C, 1857. 68 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. Fid. T). Snction of •Toot eil" molar. the pulpoifran is atrophied; the tooth is HmaUer wltliin tlmn without the socket. lu a sec- tion of the tooth the tips of the enamel iutlectious are seen of diflerent lengths, as they have become gradually closrd. Correh^jonding changes have taken place in the sockets; their bulbous projec- tions in the upper jaw being no longer visible. While, therefore, the molars of the beaver are both rootless and rooted at different stages in the growth of the animal, the latter is the characteristic of its mature condition. MUSCLES. It would exceed our limits to enumerate the mus- cles of the beaver. Their specification is the less ne- cessary as the muscles of the mammalia present few important variations from the human standard. They may, however, be so modified in connection with par- ticular functions as to merit notice, and for this rea- son we shall allude briefly to the muscles of mastica- tion. The power required for cutting and grinding hard ligneous substances is supplied in the beaver by the development of the masseter muscle. This mus- cle arises from the whole length of the lower part of the malar bone, and is inserted into the crest of the lower jaw, and side of the jaw to the anterior end of the crest. It is strengthened by tendinous fibres passing from the root of the crest into the body of the muscle. At the junction of the superior maxillary and malar inferiorly a tendon runs forward to the process covering the ante-orbital foramen. The inner ■"i ANATOMY OF THE IJKAVER. piirt of the iniiHseter arises further forward hy muscle, aud still further by tendon, as far as between the 1st and 2d molar, and is inserted into the whole space of the maxillary before the transverse plate, into the an- terior surface of this plate, and its lower arched edge. By means of its anterior tendon, the muscle of one side acting, turns the jaw laterally to the opposite side; while the double action of this part of tlie mus- cle brings the condyle forward and fixes it in the glenoid cavity for cutting operations. The cutting and grinding power of this muscle must be ver}- great. The temporal muscle arises from the crest on the temporal bone as far back as the occipital crest, and from the parietal bone; also from a tendinous expan- si(m extending from the malar to the top of the skull, and from the internal surface of the malar; and is in- serted into the coronoid process of the lower jaw. The pterygoid muscles require no particular descrip- tion. The digastric muscles, are large, and fill the space anteriorly between the lateral parts of the jaw. Their tendon in front of the hyoid bone is connected with the mylo-hyoid. Posteriorly they are smaller and aid inserted at the base of the mastoid process. The tail has free motion laterally; also by exten- sion and flexion, particularly the latter. An upper lateral muscle connected with the transverse processes of the bones joins the gluteal. Another lateral mus- cle extends ^''om the side of the tail to the tuberosity and ramus oi" the ischium. The flexors and exten. sors arise from the corresponding surfaces of the sa- crum, and are each in two layers. The flexors are the stronger muscles; they extend to the commence- ment of the scaly portion of the tail, and send great 70 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. numbers of tendons to the different bones and their processes. INTERNAL ORGANS. The beaver presents many peculiarities of internal structure; indeed, as a whole, it is a unique animal; one that has hitherto baflled the skill of naturalists to classify it. The cavity of the mouth is small, and destitute of cheek pouches; the tongue is long and fleshy, and has a pointed elevation between the molars. The palate has a longitudinal ridge extending back from the in- cisors to four transverse ridges. The epiglottis is leaf-like and pointed, and the larynx is short. It is generally supposed that the rodent, in grind- ing its food, is confined to the longitudinal motion of the jaws. This is inferred from the form of the gle- noid cavities, and the condyles; and the motion in (juestion has been adopted as a distinctive mark of the rodent family. Waterhouse' affirms that the ro- dents possess "^/ery little lateral motion to the jaw, which, however, moves freely in the longitudinal di- rection." At the same time he admits that the mo- tion in the hares is chiefly lateral, inasmuch as the crowns of their molars are never worn flat. That the articulation of the beaver jaw admits of free lateral mctioii is easily demonstrated in the recent subject. Neither the ligaments nor the bony struc- tures afford any impediment, while the flattened crowns of the molars, and the muscular provisions if ' A Natural History of the Mammalia, by G. R. Waterhouse, vol. li. Rodentia. London, 1848. ANATOMY OF THE BEAVER. 7] would lead to the conclusion that both longitudinal and lateral motions were concerned in the grinding operations. Fia. 6. stomach of beaver, inside view. Oue-qiiarter natural size. The insalivation of the dry food of the beaver is provided for by the extraordinary development of the salivary glands. The parotid and submaxillary glands, united, are very large, and cover the front and sides of the neck. The oesophageal membrane is white, thick, and loosely attached to the muscular coat. Where it enters the stomach it has a free fringed margin. The stomach is one of the most peculiar organs of the beaver; it is 10" in length and 4" in width, and when filled appears constricted in its middle portion. This is not unusual in the ro- dents, but in the beaver the structure is peculiar. At the cardiac orifice is a gland, or aggregation of folli- cles, through the margin of which the oesophagus passes. This gland is half an inch in thickness and 3 inches in diameter. It is composed of compound follicles, which open by 15 or 20 orifices in parallel rows. When the stomach is distended with air, I THE AMERICAN BEAVER. '^^ ., . Urcre cells and stomach is due to ^ ot tne iecting into its cavity, i' H ,,, „«.cle ex ach is doubled in, so that a „,„.„»? - - nds across its canty, . ^ fee =^^^ ,„.„ povt.ous. pylorus is luuscula.. and the on ^^^^ 3^^^,, te duodenun.. The '"^ '^^^^^ upon the stomach If the pylorus, -d ts doubl d ^^^ ^^^^.,, t In northern '•eg'on.,anai ^_^^^^^^, ^^ ,0^. subsist either on ^vood 01 ^K^^^^.^„^, ;„ -oU. a paratively innutntm^. « , ^^ ^^^^ ^„„,,i to Ust amount of labo on t^ .^,^ „„,t be trans- •1 „ ninter stock 01 jari>., • ,„iinier"ed lor provide a winter . ^^ ^^ subme =e ported, together ^Mth it» ,^ ^^ ,,ood, ot the future use. The proportion o ^ ^^^^^ ^^„,^ Uh«ls used by the beaver, is f^° " ,_^„t „etuaUy con- til is settled by examinu^rt-'^^,^ ^^^^ f,„.^ sumed by the anuna^^ The ^^^^ --«^>/'''^- w distended v.ith flneh .''°", ■„ the colon. In another t same material -s^»u>^'^U, ^^.y filled, .ere case the contents of the s ^^^^^, „, the t,e same, ^^•eiglling 1 "'• "^"'^^ if bark «ere in- tln .ere of the ^--.^^^: tave been in small tested .-ith the -""^^.^^^^therefore, is that the quantity. The cunclusion. .^^^,^y,g„,„, leaver derives its nutnmnUio ^^^^^^^^_^^^^ -- f irr— Xtain succulent roots and gap-wood, ^^ nen u ^ vegetables. ANATOMY OF THE BEAVER. 73 The length and size of the intestines in animals are proportionate to the nature and nutritioiis qualities of their food. In the caraivora, the intestinal cantil is shorter and less complicated than in the herbivora. In the beaver, the length of the small intestines averages 2o feet. They are destitute of valvulas conniventes. which are confined to man/ but the vil- lous coat is well developed. Sixteen patches of Peyer's glands ^\'ere counted in one subject. The pancreas is long and delicate. Its duct enters the in- testine 2-j" from the pyloric orifice, while that of the gall-bladder enters but 4" from the pylorus. The extremity of the small intestine projects a little into the colon, and the orifice is circular. Between the colon and cfecum is a circular band of muscular fibres actinsr both as a ci:)nstrictor and a valve. The caecum is laraer than the stomach. Its capacity when filled with water is 5 pints and 3 gills, and that of the stomach is 3 pints and 1 gill. The ciecum is on a line with the colon for T" or 8", it then forms an angle, and gradually diminishes in size to its extremity. In shape it resembles a ^ " It is remarkable that these folds (valvulte conniventes) ars peculiar to the human subject. No other animal, so far as we kno'iv, e.xiiibits anv arrangement of transverse folds of the intestinal tnu- cou? membrane resembling them." — 'The Physiological Anatomy and Physiology of Man. By Todd and Bowman." Phila. ed., p. 574. Note. — In the stomach of the beaver I have found a very fine filamentous worm. 40'" in length, species unknown. Large num- bers of a long, slender white worm, 6" to 5" in length, were found in the peritoneal cavity (Filaria. species not known), also in the colon, and especially in the caecum, sclerostema, male and female, species not known, and the ampliistoma subtriqietram. ■I i ■ k Hi 74 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. sickle. The follicular cavities in the ca^um and colon, .surrounded bvcohtmnar epithelium, give to the .surface a warty appearance. The reticulated or cel- lular appearance of the colon is similar to what is usually seen in this portion of the intestine. Fir.. 7. Colon C»cum of beiver. 0:-e-i:x:h natural size. The greatest width of the ctecum is 4". and its length, measured on its outer surlace. is 2 feet 6". The colon, measured from the circular band to the rectum, is 7 feet 6". At its commencement there are two longitudinal bands, forming numerous folds and sacculi: after continuing 7". a third band starts at an acute angle and continues 25". terminating as it began. The colon then diminishes in size, and in place of cells is alternately expanded and contracied to adapt itself to its contents. The liver is long, tlattened. with two principal ^DH^«^ rvo smaller ones, and several fis.:-ures. It is hirdiy ne^essarv to sav that srlucose is obtained from it Tli? ?v!cen is smal'. lonj and linear in Ibrm. In AXATOMT OF THE BEAVER. 10 one animal it was oi" in length, in another. 43". with an averaiie width of 40"'. "Weight of the large.-t spleen. 110 crraius. The right lung has two loljes. one of them bifid. The left lung has four loijes. The supra-renal ca\> sules in tlie rodents are relatively large. The kid- neys present nothing remarkable. Weight of one kidney 640 grains. The heart weighs 714 grains, and resembles the human in its cavities, valves, ves- sels, etc. In one beaver a lar-je calcareous deposit ex- isted above the aortic valves. In another there was incipient atheroma in patches in the same situation. M. Sarrasiu. in his account of the beaver, describing the heart, savs the riiiht auricle beiuir smaller than the left, the riirht ventricle is filled bv the conioint actio.i of the auricle and the vena cava inferior; the latter being at this point considerably expanded. Tiie venous sac. he adds, is narrower by the side of the liver where it is closed bv three valves, like the sijimoidal. which prevent the retlux of the blood during the act in question. M. Sarrasin's account of the beaver is so generally correct that his misconception on this point is the more remarkable. It is well known that in diving animals, whether birds or mammals, a provi siou exists in the venous svstem against the evils suspended respiration. K. Knox. Esq.. claims to have first noticed it in the case of the l^eaver. His accouit is contained in the Memoirs of the Wernerian ^ ►- ciety,. vol. iv.. part ii.. 1^23, This provision cOi .-t? in an enlargement of the inferior vena cava as it pas.ses through the fissure of the liver, constituting a sinus ill which a considerable quantity of blood may be temix)rarily arrested. i n THE AMERICAN BEAVER. In the beaver the inferior cava begins to enlarge opposite the kidney. The largest part of the sinus is where it receives the hepatic veins. After passing through the diaphragm it contracts to its original size. The four hepatic veins are also capable of containing a large quantity of blood, the largest readily admit- ting the adult fore finger. On opening the vena cava in its length, its linear width, opposite the kidney, is two inches; in the hepatic fissure it is three inches; and before reaching the right auricle it is two inches. The capacity of the venous sinus is not fully indi- cated by these measurements, as the vein probably yields to distention. The ''sigmoid valves," described by M. Sarrasin, a^e merely the openings of the three hepatic veins seen froLi above. The blood corpuscles of the beaver measure gr.'oo" in diameter. The mean of 24 rodents, as given in Gerber's Anatomy, is 3737". The eye of the beaver is small. The optic nerve is but 5'" in diameter. In decussating within the skull the nerve of the right side passes under the left. The reputed sagacity of the beaver is not accounted for by the size or -^ m 82 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. that immediately above. In this manner every por- tion of a stream is appropriated by them for the pur- poses of habitation. The accompanying map, which embraces but a fragment of the area described, was drawn by Mr. L. K. Dorrance, chief engineer, and afterwards revised by William H. Steele, Esq., assistant engineer of the Marquette and Ontonagon Railroad, from materials furnished by the author. Each section delineated is a mile square, the sections corresponding with those upon the official United States Township maps. With this integer of measurement, the distances between the several dams and the size of the several ponds can be readily ascertained as well as the actual lo- cation of each. The size of some of the ponds may be somewhat exaggerated, but the map is substan- tially accurate. For convenience of reference the dams are numbered consecutively. The sites of a large number of lodges, the location of the principal beaver meadows, and of several beaver canals are also indicated on the map. The dam' is the principal structure of the beaver. It is also the most important of his erections as it is ' the most extensive, and because its production and preservation could only be accomplished by patient and long-continued labor. In point of time, also, it precedes the lodge, since the floor of the latter and the entrances to its chamber are constructed with reference to the level of the water in the pond. The object of the dam is the formation of an artificial pond, the principal use of which is the refuge it affords ^ O-ko'-min, beaver dam. A' i 8 I I " ft I I k'lftwJTf # A* .i"j!y A< vV o /.":.'.7 v/ j Lott }r^:Mkv -\— •A Uw» y^>g*******^ i H^*^^***^H<»Hgg!^.wiKi nm^ • ''y^ ,ve< jf/ "^"T" ^oz %JNr, ciiorxD] r ^•(K*f •J^'13%^ Pn r^ons tit i 71 (' '% /irm~H-n Ay L.K Donntii*' dh H'll li """.U,, ■V.,Y\,^m,; , Uhjie ^„|i '?.',yT^i*'''''''i''''^. /- J i * i i \ \. / BEAVKR DAMS. 83 to them when assailed, and the water connection it ffives to tlieir lodges, and to their bnrrows in the banks. Hence, as the level of the pond mnst, in all cases, rise from one to two feet above these entrance's for the protection of the animal from pursnit and capture, the snrfiice level of the pond nmst, to a greater or less extent, be subject to their immediate control. As the dam is not an absolute necessity to the beaver for the maintenance of his life, his normal habitation being rather natural ponds and rivers, and burrows in their b.anks, it is, in itself considered, a remarkable fact that he should have voluntarily transferred himself, by means of dams and ponds of his own construction, from a natural to an artificial mode of life. Some of these dams are so extensive as to forbid the supposition that they were the exclusive work of a single pair, or of a single family of beavers : but it does not follow, as has very generally been supposed, that several families, or a colony, unite for the joint construction of a dam. After a careful examination of some hundreds of these structures, and of the lodges and burrows attached to many of them, I am altogether satisfied that the larger dams were not the joint product of the labor of large numbers of beavers working together, and brought thus to immediate completion ; but, on the contrary, that they arose from small beginnings, and were built upon year after year until they finally reached that size which exhausted the capabilities of the location ; after which they were maintained for centuries, at the ascertained standard by constant repairs. So far as my observations have enabled me to form an opinion, i think they were BEAVKR DAMS. 83 to them when assailed, and the water oonneetion it gives to tlieir lodges, and to their bnrrows in the banks. Hence, as the level of the pond must, in all cases, rise from one to two feet above these entrances for the protection of the animal from pursuit and capture, the surface level of the pond nnist, to a greater or less extent, be subject to their innnediate control. As the dam is not an absolute necessity to the beaver for the maintenance of his life, his normal habitation being rather natural ponds and rivers, and burrows in their banks, it is, in itself considered, a remarkable fact that he should have voluntarily transferred himself, by means of dams and ponds of his own construction, from a natural to an artificial mode of life. Some of these dams are so extensive as to forbid the supposition that they were the exclusive work of a single pair, or of a single family of beavers: but it does not follow, as has very generally been supposed, that several families, or a colony, unite for the joint construction of a dam. After a careful examination of some hundreds of these structures, and of the lodges and burrows attached to many of them, I am altogether satisfied that the larger dams were not the joint product of the labor of large numbers of beavers working together, and brought thus to immediate completion ; but, on the contrary, that they arose from small beginnings, and were built upon year after year until they finally reached that size which exhausted the capabilities of the location ; after which they were maintained for centuries, at the ascertained standard by constant repairs. So far as my observations have enabled me to form an opinion, I think they were 84 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. ii usually, if not iiivariably, commenced by a single pair, or a sinLilo family of beavers; and that when in the course of time, by the gradual increase of the dam, the pond had become sufliciently enlarged to aecommodiite more fiimilies than one, other families to(jk up their residence upon it, and afterward con- tributed, bv their labor, to its maintenance. There is no satisfactory evidence that the American beavers either live or work in colonies; and if some such cases have been observed, it will either be found to be an exception to the general rule, or in consequence of the sudden destruction of a Avork upon the mainte- nance of which a number of families were at the time depending. The great age of the larger dams is shown by their size. 1)V the large amount of solid materials thev con- tain, and by the destruction of the primitive forest within the area of the ponds; and also by the extent of the beaver meadows along the margins of the streams where dams are maintained, and by the hum- mocks formed u^wn them through the annual growth and decay of vegetation in separate hills. These meadows were undoubtedly covered with trees adapted to a wet soil when the dams were constructed. It must have required long periods of time to destroy every vestige of the ancient forest by the increased saturaiton of the earth, accompanied with occasional overflows from the streams. The CAnidence from these, and other sources, tends to show that these dams have existed in the same places for hundreds and thousands of years, and that they have been maintained by a system of continuous repairs. In external appearance there are two distinct kinds 11 ■m BEAVER DAMS. 85 ■ '-^■. of beaver dams, althoiiL'h thev are all constructed on the same principle. One. tli*' >tirk-(lam. consists of interlaced stick and pole work u[)()n the lower face, with an eml)ankment of earth, intermixed with the same materials on the npper, or water face of the dam. This species is usually found on brooks, and upon the larger streams without defined banks. The greater proportion of beaver dams are of this descri[)- tion. The other is the solid-bank dam, which is usually found lower down on the same stream, where its banks have become defined, and it has a channel of some depth, and a uniform current. In such places the large amount of earth and mud, used to strengthen the work, buries and conceals the greater part of the brush and poles used to bind the embankment to- gether; thus giving to it, in the course of time, the appearance, on both slopes, of a solid dike, or bank of earth. In the first species the surplus water per- colates through the dam along its entire length, while, in the second, it is discharged through a single open- ing in the crest formed for that purpose. At the place selected for the construction of a dam, the ground is usually firm and often stony; and when across the channel of a tlowing stream, a hard rather than a soft bottom is preferred. Such places are necessarily unfavorable for the insertion of stakes in the ground, if such were, in fact, their practice in building dams. The theory upon which beaver dams are constructed is perfectly simple, and involves no such necessity. Soft earth intermixed with vegetable fibre is used to form an embankment, with sticks, brush, and poles imbedded within these materials to bind them together, and to impart to them the requi- u 8G THE AMERICAN' BEAVEB. site solidity to resist the effocts botli of pressure and of saturation. Small sticks and brush are used, in the first instance, with mud, earth, and stones for down weight. Consequently these dams are extremely rude at their commencement, and they do not attain tlieir remarkably artistic appearance until after they iiave been raised to a considerable height, and have been maintained, by a system of annual repairs, for a number of years. The open stick-work dams are the most interesting as well as the most common, and they will be first presented. This dam, which is represented in the engraving (Plate VI.), and which is marked No. 8 upon the map, is the most remarkable of all the structures of this de- scription of which I have gained a knowledge. 1 have seen others that were longer, and still others that were higher for short distances, but none that united, to the same extent, the two features of great length and continuous elevation, or that contained so large an amount of solid material. It is two hundred and sixty feet and ten inches in length, measured with a tape line along the crest of the dam, and six feet and two inches in vertical height at the centre of the great curve, with a slope, at the latter point, on the lower side or face of the dam, of thirteen feet in length. The site was well selected for a structure of this mngnitude. Lake Diamond is situated about half a mile to the eastward, in the midst of high hills, and maintains its level about fifteen feet higher than the level of the pond formed by the dam. Its outlet forms a small brook a few feet over and a few inches deep, and is the commencement of the \ ^ [' I I BRAVER DAMS. 87 K Ely Brnncli of the Ksconanba River. Across tliis brook, and about half a iiiiK' Im'Iow ttio point wiu'ro it CMuoru'i'H from tiie lake, tbo ft. (5 ft. 13 ft. 18 ft. 7 ft. 6'' 4 ft. 8 ft. d" 3 ft. »" 12 ft. Oft. 7 ft. 8 ft. 2 ft. V 2 ft. Oft. 6 ft. 4 ft. 2 ft. Depth of water in Bmall pond be- low dnm Differcn<'e of lerel of wtitcr above and below datn Height of walor above bane lino.. Approximate width of baxe, tranii- Terxe neotionsi , Length of slope of poles, lower fnoe of dnm • Length of tilope of water face of (lam Depth 0 ' water in pond at the end of slone The following figure represents a transverse section of the dam at the head of the great curve, Station No. 4, and distinguishes the part which is a solid embank- ment from that which consists of sticks and poles free from earth. Fio. 8. .^.A FoU V. ititk wane BASE 18 Ft. SeUd Bark Transverse section. A computation made from the preceding, and some additional measurements, shows that this dam con- 7 1. 1 98 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. tains upwards of seven thousand cubic feet of solid materials, all of which were transported and wrought into this structure by its industrious and ingenious architects. The photograph of this dam, from which the en- graving was made, was taken by Mr. James A. Jenney in August, 1861, upon four plates, each eight by ten inches in dimensions; and from one position, in order to show the dam, the pond, and the background in one symmetrical picture. As a preparatory measure, the trees, for fifty feet immediately below the dam, were cut down and removed, the under-brush was cleared, and the weeds and grass,, which were growing through the dam, were pulled out, that the work might be shown free from all obstructions. A scaffold for the instrument was then erected in front of the great curve, about sixty feet distant from it, and twelve feet high. It was my first intention to have the dam photographed in four sections, with the in- strument placed immediately in front of each, thereby sacrificing the background in order to show the rela- tive size of all the parts of the dam. The first two plates were taken on tins plan. But the other method was finally substituted for the reason that it would show tlio central portion of the dam perfectly, while the imperfect and reduced appearance of the re- mainder would, it was believed, be more than com- pensated by the completeness of the representation as a whole. These photographs, when adjusted together, make a picture thirty-six inches in length by seven in width, and, in all respects, faithfully and strikingly reproduce the original in miniature form. I esteemed it, at the time, peculiarly fortunate that I was able to BEAVER DAMS. 99 secure an exact representation of this great structure while it was in a perfect state, although not then as well assured, as at present, that it is not surpassed in magnitude by any other beaver dam in North America. Two adjuncts of this dam remain to be noticed. Of these, the first is a remarkable effort of engineering skill, if from the end it subserves we are at liberty to infer an intention on the part of the beaver to produce that end. It is a second dam, in two sections, each twenty-five feet long and two feet high, constructed across the thread of t^ ; stream, and about one hun- dred feet below the great curve. It is shown in Plate VIII. At this point, the waters that flowed through the dam above have again become collected into a small running stream. This low dam forms a shallow pond, in itself of no apparent use for beaver occupation, but yet subserving the important purpose of setting back water to the depth of twelve or fifteen inches in the great curve. At this point the pressure of the water in the pond against the dam is the greatest, because here the bed of the channel is the lowest, and the structure the highest; and the small dam, by maintaining the water a foot deep below the great dam, diminishes, to this extent, the difference in level above and below; and neutralizes, to the same extent, the pressure of the water in the pond above against the main structure. Whether the lower dam was constructed with this motive, and for this object, or is explainable on some other hypothesis, I shall not venture an opinion. I have found the same precise work repeated below other large dams. The second is also a dam which is constructed across the outlet of Lake Diamond at the place where .'■\ r'^ LM 100 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. it issues from the lake. It performs the important office of protecting the great dam below from the effects of a sudden rise of the waters of the lake. In construction, it is in all respects like the Grass Lake dam. It is ninety-three feet long, and two and a half feet high at the centre, from which it diminishes gradually to the ends. I first saw it in 1860, and last in 1866, when it was still in good condition. A dam at this point is apparently of no conceivable use to improve the lake for beaver occupation. It has one feature, also, in which it differs from other dams excejot those upon lake outlets: and that consists in its elevation, at all points, of about two feet above the level of the lake at ordinary stages of the w iter. In all other dams except those upon lake outlets, and in most of the latter, the water stands quite near their crests, while in the one under consideratioji it stood about two feet below it. This fact suggests, at least, the inference, although it may have but little of prob- ability to sustain it, that it was constructed with special reference to sudden rises of the lake in times of freshet, and that it was designed to hold this sur- plus water until it could be gradually discharged through the dam into the great pond below. It would, at least, subserve this purpose very efficiently, and thus protect the dam below it from the effects of freshets. To ascribe the origin of this dam to such motives of intelligence is to invest this animal with a higher degree of sagacity than we have probable reason to concede to him; and yet it is proper to mention the relation in which these dams stand to each other, whether that relation is regarded as acci- dental or intentional. i< BEAVER DAMS. 101 I have now given a full as well as somewhat de- tailed description of a beaver dam of the ordinary kind constructed by this architectural mute. This explanation, and the engravings together, will render unnecessary a special description of other dams of the same class. In the remaining dams noticed, I shall limit the description to the special features or difter- ences by which they are distinguished, giving, at the same time, ground plans and measurements for the purpose of comparison. New dams are occasionally commenced, and old ones, .previously abandoned for some cause, are re- paired and reoccupied, in beaver districts which are undisturbed except by trappers. The increase or decrease of beavers in numbers, influences, to some extent, their movements in these respects The sea- son preferred for this work is during the months of September and October, after the strong currents have run out of the streams, and they have subsided to their lowest levels. It is also the period during which they cut and store their winter wood, with the im- mersion and safety of which tlieir ponds are intimately connected. Hence we find that the active season for beaver work is late in the fall; and that it is per- formed with reference to the approaching winter, of which they are not unmindful. These several subjects will be elsewhere considered. For the purpose of ascertaining how beaver dams are commenced, and especially to find whether an attempt is made to insert any portion of the materials in the ground, as a means of holding them i:v their places, I have taken up to the bottom both old and new beaver dams, and examined, with some care, the ."A 102 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. t i disposition and arrangement of the materials. The result demonstrated that neither stakes, brush, nor poles were inserted or imbedded in the ground, but on the contrary that they were laid flatwise upon the bed of the channel, and held down with mud and earth carried in and deposited upon them. A new dam was commenced a year ago on the main branch of the Carp, close beside the track of the Marquette and Ontonagon Railroad, about twenty-three miles out from Marquette. At the point selected for the dam the Carp is a mere brook, and the railroad embank- ment, which pa8.ses parallel with, and a few feet from it, seemed to the observant eye of the beaver to aiford some advantages as a b.arrier, upon one side, to their proposed pond ; and notwithstanding the daily passage of trains over the road, they commenced the dam, and raised it about a foot high across the channel of the stream. A conflict of interests tjius arose between the beavers, on the one hand, and one of the chief commercial enterprises of the country, on the other. The track-master, fearing the effects of an accumula- tion of water against the railroad embankment, cut the dam through the centre, and thus lowered the water to its original level. As this was no new ex- perience to the beavers, who were accustomed to such rents, they immediately repaired the breach. For ten or fifteen times it was cut through, and as often repaired before the beavers finally desisted from their proposed work. On taking up the remains of this dam the present season (1866), I found that it was commenced with brush and poles, with the bark on, from ten to twelve feet in length, and that they were arranged horizontally upon the bed of the channel, BEAVER DAMS. 103 and lengthwise with the flow of the stream instead or transversely. In general the large ends of the poles, and of the limbs with their branches attached, were up stream, which of itself would tend to strengthen their hold upon the bottom. Upon these materials, which were compactly arranged, earth and mud, in small quantities only, were accumulated for down weight, and to fill up the intervening spaces; but it was confined to the central and upper porti'jns. On the upper margin, which was to form the watar face of the dam, small sticks were used, together with loam, intermixed with fine roots, for the purpose of arresting the flow of the water through the rudely- arranged materials of the dam. At this stage it was extremely rude, and devoid of those striking charac- teristics which these dams assume with age. The manner in which they repair their dams is both curious and interesting. It will be suflicient here to state that ordinary repairs are made, when- ever they seem to be required, by each beaver acting independently, and without any concert with his mates. In case of a breach in the structure, several of them have been seen working together for its restoration. They usually go down to the dam nightly, one after the other, and as they pass along its margin, each, upon his own motion, does such work upon it as he chooses to perform. In another connection some facts will be stated upon this subject. CHAPTER IV. BEAVER DAMS — (CONTINUED). Solid-bank Diiros — Places where constructed — No Dams in deep Water — Where impossible, the Beavers inhabit River Banks — Description of Solid- bank Dam — Opening for Surplus Water — Pond confined to River Banks — Similar Dam with Hedge — Fallen-tree Dam — Use of Tree accidental — Spring Rill Dam — Series of Dnms on the Carp — Dams in a Gorge — Lake Outlet Dams — High Dam — Long Dam — Description of same — Manner of Photographing same — Dams in other Districts of North America — Petri- fied r«aver Dams in Montana. The solid-bank dam, which we are next to consider, although constructed upon the same principles as the kind previously described, presents a very different appearance. This difference of external form is the result of the altered conditions under which it is erected, occasioned by a gradual transformation in the character of each particular stream in its descending course. In the capacity thereby displayed of adapt- ing their works to the ever-varying circumstances in which they find themselves placed, instead of follow- ing blindly an invariable type, some evidence of the possession, on their part, of a free intelligence, is un- doubtedly furnished. After a stream has emerged from its sources in the hills, and acquired volume with its onward flow, it soon begins to develop banks as well as a broader channel, and these banks assume a vertical form in the level areas where the soil is alluvial. Such are the changes which occur on the Ely Branch of the (104) BEAVER DAMS. 105 igence, is un- Esconauba after it has passed dam No. 13, and on Carp River after passing dam No. 39. The channel of the first-named stream will then average seventy feet in width, with vertical banks from three to four feet higb^ and with a depth of water of about twenty inches at its lowest stages, and in its shallowest parts. Through the level areas it moves also with a sluggish current. It will be seen, therefore, that in building a dam across such a channel, it must be done in deep water as compared with brooks; and further than this, that the difficulty of construction increases with the increase of the depth of the water, until it finally becomes insurmountable. For this reason there are no dams on the Carp below No. 50, and none on the Esconauba below the junction of the Ely Branch with the main stream. There is no instance within the area represented by the map where a dam has been constructed across a stream having a greater depth than two feet at the site of the structure when the water is at its lowest level. It thus becomes apparent that beaver dams are necessarily confined to the sources of the principal rivers and to the small tributaries which flow into them along their courses; and that some change in the character of the dams would be rendered necessary by the transformations which occur with their increase in size or depth. Where beavers inhabit rivers too large for dams, they burrow in their banks, for which reason they are distinguished by the trappers under the name of bank beavers. These general considerations will serve to explain the manner in which given districts are occupied by beavers; the circumstances which render some localities more favorable than others ; and the -I 100 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. influence of topographical features upon the character of their dam». The first solid-bank dam to be described (Plate IX.) is in the Ely Branch of the Esconauba River, and is marited as No. 14 on the map. When photographed it was not in a perfect condition. It had been cut through in two places by the miners, some three years before, to draw off the water from the beaver meadows pre- paratory to cutting the grass from these meadows for hay, and had thus been exposed to waste. The water in the pond then stood but a few inches above its natural level, leaving the dam mostly uncovered on both slopes, and its lower face littered with loose materials from these breaches. It exhibited the re- mains only of what originally was one of the most perfect structures of its kind. Upon the right bank of the stream (left side of the engraving) was the lodge, with its heap of brush, for the lodgment of cut- tings, sunk in the pond immediately in front, and rising above the surfiice; and on the opposite side was a beaver meadow of considerable extent, back of which was the forest. The dam is constructed at a bend in the stream, where the channel is about seventy feet wide and of uniform depth, and where the bottom is smooth and hard. It is substantially a solid embankment, and is thrown across the stream diagonally, but in a straight line, from bank to bank. Between these banks it is seventy-five feet long. On the right side it is built into the bank, and, rising above it, is extended, as a low dam, for thirty feei beyond, and on the left for fifteen feet, thus giving to the structure a total length of one hundred and twenty feet. Between the banks, aracter > C/3 o > I It HKAVKR DAMS. 107 tho dnm wrh of uniform width and lii'ight, an i\\v Ih>(1 of the cliaiim.'! wan levfl. At the Imse of tlio .Mtriic- ture its uvera<^o widtli tranHViTMoiy wuh .^ixtt'i-n foet, diminishing to twelve feet at tho original Hurface level of the stream, whioh here was twenty inehes deep, and to four feet in width at the height of three feet from the bottom. Above thia last level the erest was rounded up about sixteen inches higher, where it was still two feet wide, the embankment having a total height of four feet and four inches. In constructing dams where the water is of such depth, larger quantities of brush and [mles are used than in dams of the other class, and it is also neces- sary to use larger amounts of earth. The brush is required to hold the earth where it is placed, which otherwise would l)e dissolved and How away with the current: and the earth in turn anchors the brush, and when packed around it, the two together form a firm and solid embankment. The principle on which brush and sticks are used for their binding properties is the same which led to the use of straw in nmd brick. Neither, separately, would answer the end designed. So much earth was used upon this dam that the brush and poles upon the lower lace, as well as on the water slope, were buried and concealed from view, except the ends which projected in different places. So firm and solid had the embankment be- come, and such was its breadth near the summit, that a horse and wagon might have been driven across the river upon it in safety, but for the opening on the left side for the passage of the surplus water. The only diflferences, therefore, in the two species of dams, consist in the filling in of the interstices on the lower >, ! I I 108 THE AMERICAN HEAVER. I ! fiu'o with mud luid oarth, which turrih it into n Holid einhunktiu'tit on both h1u|>c'h, and throughout itH whole extent, and in the H|>fcial motiuMl renurtod to for dis- charging the surplus water, which remains to be noticed. From the solidity of these dams the water is not able to percolate through them as before stated, neith(!r was it allowed at ordinary stages to pass over their summits. A regular opening is left in the crest of the dam, usually in the line of the thread of the current, several inches lower than its summit. On the water face above the opening is found the ordi- nary embankment, while on the lower face it is con- structed of interlaced stick-work precisely in the form of the dam first described. This opening is usually from three to six feet long, so that the water passes over its top, and also through this narrow portion of the structure by percolation. It is e\ ideiit, fi-om the existence and peculiar character of these openings, that the beavers understood the injurious effects of allowing the surplus water to flow over the crests of their solid-bank dams, and also the importance of regulating the amount of the discharge, which could be effected by the enlargement or contraction of the openings. The dam was cut through at this point, which nearly obliterated this feature of the structure. This species of dam, when completed, might possess some advantages over the other in the matter of re- quiring less frequent repairs, and yet with each freshet it would suffer more or less of waste. The pond above is narrow, it being confined with- in the natural banks of the stream, with the excep- tion of shallow water upon portions of the beaver \ BEAVER DAMS. 109 meadows ; but it was, nevertheless, spacious from its length and from the depth of the water, since the dam set back the pond more than a quarter of a mile, and was in places where depressions existed in the bed of the river, ten or twelve feet deep. A short distance above the lodge there is. a beaver canal of considerable size running back to the hard wood lands. The beaver lodge belonging to this dam is seen upon the bank on the left side of the engraving, with a brush pile in the water immediately in front, the uses of which will be hereafter explained. There are four dams below this shown on the map of the same general character and size, except that they were shorter. They were so near each other that each dam set back the water to the one imme- diately above. When I first saw them in 1860, they had been cut through by the miners, and were de- serted, and when I last saw them, two years later, they were wasting away. Upon small brooks, having defined banks and some depth of water, dams of this description are occasion- ally found. The one represented in the engraving (Plate X.), and which is No. 49 on the map, is situated upon an affluent of the Carp, a short distance above the boat station. It is fifty-five feet long, extending upon the bank on either side, and nearly three feet high. The embankment was several feet wide and composed of earth, the brush and poles having decayed and dis- appeared externally. Upon its top and lower face alder bushes had germinated and produced a hedge so dense that it was extremely difficult to penetrate it sufficiently for the inspection and measurement of the work. Near the north end was the usual open- r i no THE AMERICAN BEAVER. ing, about six feet wide, where the lower face was constructed of interlaced sticks, while the water face was banked in with earth. In the engraving, which was made from a drawing, the hedge is removed for the purpose of showing the embankment. The fall of water which passed over the crest of the dam at the opening, was about a foot and a half. I was first drawn to the place by the sound of the Mling water while passing by on the trail at some distance. This dam realizes the earliest current descriptions of these works by Buffon and other writeis, particu- larly its opening for the surplus water, and the hedge growing upon its summit. In the Lake Superior re- gion, and upon the head waters of the Yellowstone and the i»r'ssouri, they are comparatively rare. All the large dams are of the other kind. In some in- stances both forms are found in the same dam, as will hereafter be shown. It was another conspicuous feature of beaver dams, according to the early descriptions, that the trunk of a tree, cut down for the purpose, often served as the foundation of the structure. After selecting a proper site, their first act, as a general rule, was said to be the felling of a tree across the channel upon which the work was to be constructed. There is one dam, and but one, within the area of the map (No. 9), which has incorporated within it the trunk of a fallen tree. Except for this circumstance it would not de- serve a special notice. The tree in question (Plate XI.), which was a pine, three and a half feet in diameter, had fallen from its own decay. For aught that appeared, it might have fallen upon a dam previously constructed, and become FALLEN TRtLE DAM. BEAVER DAMS. Ill subsequently incorporated within it; or it may have been seized upon after its fall as a convenient part of a new structure. At all events, the most singular fact connected with it is, that the dam was constructed below the log, so far as sticks and poles are used, while it was banked in above the tnmk with earth. The log part of the dam was twenty-five feet long, and the re- mainder sixty-one feet, with a vertical height at the centre of four feet eight inches, and a slope of pole and stick work on tlie lower face of nine feet. From the nature of the positions in which beaver dams are usually constructed, fallen trees, if cut down on pur- pose, could be of but little advantage; and it is there- fore probable that the use of trunks of trees in build- ing dams was purely accidental, as in the present case. In addition to the two species of beaver dams which have been described, there are varieties of each that possess special characteristics resulting from the na- ture of the localities in which they are erected. Some notice of these dams is necessary to complete the ex- position of these structures. The beavers do not restrict themselves to the prin- cipal streams, nor yet to the small brooks, but where- ever they find flowing water, however small in quan- tity, they avail themselves of it if the place affords the other requisite advantages. There is one dam, not shown upon the map, situated at a short distance from a spring in the midst of a dense forest, and upon low and swampy ground, which may be called a spring rill dam. As live trees were standing in the pond, it was evidently of recent construction. A de- pression in the ground formed a basin for the water 112 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. on all sides, except where the dam brought up the deficiency; and a small spring supplied the water in quantities barely sufficient to change the waters of the pond. To prevent the escape of the water, the dam was extended until it reached the length of one hundred and thirty-three feet; after Which the surplus was discharged through it by percolation. The lower face of the dam was constructed of sticks and twigs interlaced, and the water slope was an embankment of earth. Its height varied from one foot to two feet and a half, with a difference of level in the water above and below the dam of twenty inches at the highest part of the structure. The pond was too small to afford much protection to its occupants; but this deficiency was in some measure compensated by the abundance of hard wood upon its margin, and by the seclusion afforded by the density of the surround- ing forest. It seemed surprising, nevertheless, that a beaver family should take up their residence within an eighth of a mile of the line of the railroad, on which nine trains per day each way were then (1860) running. With their reputed shyness and caution they were evidently waiting for some overt act of hostile interference before they surrendered their hab- itation. The snare was already prepared for them, for on the day I measured the dam I saw two traps, set in the usual manner, in the pond. Upon the im- pulse of the moment, I was in the act of springing them, to save the inoffensive mutes from their peril, when it occurred to me that I had no indefeasible ight thus to interfere with the vocation of the trap- per; whereupon, with some misgivings that I had failed to perform my duty, I left them to the chances BEAVER DAMS. 113 he of the trapper's art. Tliat night tlie beaver, whose skull is number one in the table of measurements in the Appendix, was caught, and this, togetlier with the tail and feet, were went to me the following day, by the successful trapper, who proved to be my friend, Captain Bridges, the trackinaster of the railroad. On Carp River there is a series of thirteen dams, one above the other, commencing with dam No. 50 on the map, which are much alike in size and external appearance, and may therefore be referred to in one group. They are constructed with interlaced stick- work and poles on their lower faces, and banked .in with earth on their water slopes above, and discharge the surplus water, at ordinary stages, by percolation. While they are more or less sinuous in their crest lines across the channel; the principal curve, at the highest part of each structure, is usually down stream. These dams are all situated within a distance of six miles, measured along the winding channel of the stream, the borders of which are fringed, here and there, with beaver meadows, and these in turn are bordered with a forest of tamarack and spruce. I have passed over them in a fishing boat three succes- sive seasons; the first time in 18G0, and when they were in a good state of preservation, with their ponds full, and still occupied by beavers. They have since then been deserted, and the greater part of them have been carried away; thus showing the necessity for constant watchfulness and repairs which their preser- vation entails upon their builders. These dams were from forty to one hundred feet in length, and from three to five feet in vertical height at the thread of the stream. As each dam, in nearly every instance, 8 i II i' 11 I ! 114 THE AMERICAN BEAVER Hcts buck itH pond to the one immediately above, in some cases two and even three feet in depth, the fall ol' water at each dam ranged from one to three feet. In times of freshet this river, although but a small stream, passes a considerable volume of water. I have seen it ilow over the crests of these dams a foot deep, which, as it must occur, more or less, with every copious rain, subjects these structures to a severe test. Having seen them both before and after such occurrences, there was no injury observable that could not be speedily repaired. A detailed description of these darns, with their respective measurements, is scarcely necessary. Those higher up, on the same stream, are much larger, although the stream itself diminishes to a mere brook. One of these in particu- lar, on account of its great length, will be hereafter describe 1. Dams are often found upon small mountain streams, and in the narrovr gorges through which they flow. They are constructed in the same manner as the ordi- nary stick-dam, but are deserving of notice from the nature of the localities in which they are erected. It seems to be no hinderance to such a use of these rapidly descending streams that the ponds thus formed must be extremely short and narrow, and consequently incapable of aflFording much protection. Many of the dams in the declivities of the Rocky Mountain chain, and in other mountain districts, are constructed in situations precisely similar to that of the series about to be described, and for this reason the latter are especially interesting. To find an illustration of dams of this kind it is necessary to go without the area embraced in the SERIES oi' DAMS in .1 (JORGE i I I ! I i UEAVKR DAMS. 115 map. About six niilcM southciist of Lako Miclii- gamc, iind two miles mmtli of tlio Wiishiiii^ton Mine, thia aeries of Htructuies, seven in number, is foiuitl, of wliicli a representation is givi'U in Plat" XII. They commence at the entrance of a narrow jrorge between hills of considerable elevation, and are dis- tributed on n gradually descending line «»f one iiun- dred and sixty feet, the lowest being constructed upon the verge of a nearly precipitous fall of al>out one hundred feet. Their size and height are sufliciently indicated by the following mea8urem<'nts, which were made when I first visited them in 1800, and for the opportunity of doing which I am indebted to Mr. John Armstrong, one of the officers of the Washing- ton Mine: Length of dam Slope of lower face Vertical height Distance between it and nest 1«t Dam. 2d Dam. 3<1 Diiiii. 4tll Dani. Sth Dam. fith Uuiii. 7tli bniu. Ft. In. Fl. In. Ft. In. Ft. Fl. In. «. «. 91) 60 8 20 17 12 <) 13 0 9 4 8 5 3 3 5 6 8 9 2 0 4 2 10 1 •> GO 23 15 30 12 10 10 to falls. The second and third measurements given were from the highest part of each structure respectively. Taken together, these dams are quite remarkable. The upper one, which is large throughout its entire extent, forms a pond covering about ten acres of land. A dense forest of hard wood overspreads the sur- rounding hills, on the slopes of which a beaver-slide down into the pond is occasionally seen. At the upper end of the valley there is a beaver canal cut through the low ground two hundred and fifty feet in Ill) TUB AMERICAN IJEAVEH. li'iiurtli. MiKiii till! iniir^in of wliicli the troe cuttii)g8 were iiiiiiicioiis. Kacli of tho lowor (Imiis lias a Hinall and narrow poiuJ, but too incunHidcrahli' in nize to ttlford nuicli protection, Hinco t'.io bimkH, from tlioir rocky character, were unfavor'iblc for burrowH. Tlie volnnu' of the stream was beiow that of the Hmallc8t brookn, bnt, after rains, it sends down, undoubtedly, an abundance of water. In each case tlie da.n was extended from one side of the gorge to the other, and constructed of stick-work on the lower face, and earth embankment on the upper, in the ordinary form. It is dillicult to understand the uses of any of these dams, except the upper one, which sustains the main [)ond; but we are not at liberty to suppose that all this lal)or would have been performed without some adequate object. A tame beaver shows an irresistible propensity to dam up flowing water, — a propensity which seizes him even when he sees water running in rills in a yard, after a copious shower. Whether these apparently unnecessary dams owe their origin to some such unregulated fancy, I leave as a problem to such as adopt the theory of the fettered intelligence of the mutes. These dams show an aggregate descent in the bed of the stream of about twenty-two feet in one hundred and sixty; and are found to stand in definite relations to each other. In the mountain districts, and in the high lands which are broken up into ranges of hills, small lakes are usually numerous. They are also favorite resorts of beavers, who inhabit them not less readily than the flowing streams. There are several such lakes within the area embraced by the map, and they form the most attractive features in the landscape. Em- t from ■uiithwest end. At 0") fi>et from same uod. At 140 ((it from Bamo i'Ik). Width of dam at crest 4 ft. 7 ft. 3 ft. 4 ft. 8 ft. 3 ft. 4 ft. 9 ft. 6 ft. flinno of lower fftco Vertical height About a quarter of a mile above Lake Flora there is another small lake, or more properly a pond, formed by two beaver dams, about one hundred and fifty feet apart, but with no pond between them. They have the appearance of one dam in two lifts, although en- tirely distinct; and are shown on the map as No. 1 The lower one is one hundred and twenty feet long, and high enough to set back water three feet deep to the dam above. Its only apparent object, as in a pre- vious case, is to strengthen the upper darn, by dimin- ishing the pressure upon it of its pond. The latter is fifty feet long and three feet in height above the water below it at the centre, which, as it is three feot deep, gives a total height of six feet to the structure at this point. The highest dam, of which I have gained a knowl- edge, is situated on a tributary of the Pishikeeme Eiver, in township 49, range 30, and section 34, about ten miles north of the east end of Michigame Lake. It is constructed in a gorge between high hills. As described to me by William Bass and Paul Pine, two native Ojibwa trappers, who have seen it many times, it is the highest of all the dams known in the Lake Superior region. It is about thirty-five feet long, twelve feet in vertical height, and with a slopd of in- terlaced poles on its lower face upwards of twenty feet in length. I have not been able to visit this re- 120 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. Ii markable structure and ascertain its dimensions by actual measurement; but, judging from the character and extent of the other erections of the beavers within this area, 1 see no reason for disbeUeving the statement. It was named and described by them as the highest beaver structure within their knowledge. Some of the dams in this region are not less re- markable for their prodigious length, a state-^^ient of which, in fet't, would scarcely be credited unless veri- fied by actual measurement. The longest one yet mentioned measured two hundred and sixty feet, but there are dams four hundred, and even five hundred feet long. There is a dam, in two sections, situated upon a tributary of the main branch of the Esconauba River, about a mile and a half northwest of the Washingti >n Miuv^. One section measures one hundred and ten, and the other four hundred and twenty feet, with an interval of natural bank, worked here and there, of one thou - - nd feet. A solid-bank danij twenty feet in length, was first constructed across the channel of the stream, from bank to bank, with the usual opening, for the surplus water, five feet wide. As the water rose and overhowed the bank on the left side, the dam was extended for ninety feet until it reached ground high enough to confine the pond. This natural bank extended up the stream, and nearly parallel with it, for one thousand feet, where the ground again subsided, and allowed the water in the upper part of the pond to flow out and around into the channel of the stream below the dam. To meet this emergency, a second dam, four hundred and twenty feet long, was con- structed. For the greater part of its length it is low, BEAVER DAMS. but in some places it is two and a half and three feet high, and constructed of stick-work on the lower, and with an earth embankment on its water face. In effect, tlierefore, it is one structure fifteen hundred and thirty feet in length, of which five hundred and thirty feet, in two sections, is artificial, and the re- mainder natural bank, but worked here and there, where depressions in the ground required raising by artificial means. As this dam had been cut through, and the water drawn out of the pond about two years before I visited and measured the work in 1866, it was then falling into decay. Three miles north of Clarksburg, in the south- east quarter of section 25, there are three large beaver dams, constructed on the same stream, and from a quarter to a third of a mile apart. They are situated upon an affluent of the main branch of the Esconauba River, The first or lower dam measured three hundred and eighty-five feet in length, and is a large structure throughout its entire extent. It was four feet high where it crossed the channel of the stream, and three feet high for two-thirds of the re- mainder of its length. Along this stream the prevail- ing trees are spruce, tamarack, and cedar, interspersed with poplar, with the latter of which the dam was constructed. As the poplar is a soft wood, larger, and often shorter billets were used, thnn in the dams previously described. This dam, in external appear- ance, was much inferior to those made of hard wood. The upper dam measured five hundred and fifty-one feet in continuous length along its crest. Divided into sections It gave the following vertical elevations : 122 First Bcctio Second Ti.irl Fc.irth Fifth Sixth Total lengtl THE AMERICAN n of 84 feet BEAVER. . 8 feet hiirh. " 100 " " 100 " . 2 . 1 foot 6 inches. " 100 " . 1 foot. " 100 " 9 inches " G7 " G , 651 feet. t For two hundred feet on the east end of the dam, which was its lowest part, it was carried up the stream patallel with its course, and a few rods in front of the rising ground which formed its bank. Here it was constructed almost entirely of mud and sod. This left a narrow channel of water along the crest of the dam, which answered the purposes of a canal, the ground being a swamp on either sido. In places it was simply a ditch, excavated in the soft wet earth, the materials being thrown up in the form of a con- tinuous embankment on the lower side, thus forming a low dam with a narrow water channel on the upper side. The excavation was from two to three feet deep, and the embankment rose about six inches high. This seems scarcely credible, especially as it resembled so closely the work of the spade, but nevertheless it was the handiwork of beavers. A mile and a half southwest of the mine hist named, there is another very fine beaver dam three hundred and eighty feet long, and unusually high and broad throughout its entire extent. It will aver- age three feet high for two hundred feet, and at the centre it is four feet high, and quite massive. The amount of solid materials in this structure is not less than in that at Grass Lake. Mr. John Armstrong, before mentioned, with whom I spent a part of a night upon this dam, captured thirteen beavers upon BEAVER DAMS. 123 it in the fall and winter of 1865. There are three lodges upon the borders of the pond, which would give to them, before they were disturbed, twenty-one beaver occupants, by the usual rule of computation. There were also t\{^o beaver canals connected witlt the pond. In the year 1862, I heard, through Capt. Daniel Wilson, of a long dam, constructed upon a small brook which falls into Carp River high up on this stream; and went with him to ascertain its length by measure- ment. This dam is marked No. 19 on the map. It proved to be a fine structure, and of extraordinary length. On careful measurement with a tape-line, following the crest of the dam, we found its total length on a continuous line to be four hundred and eighty-eight feet. For two hundred feet, from its commencement on the left bank of the stream, it is one of the most perfect and artistically formed struct- ures in the Lake Superior region, although not so high, and, for this reason, not equal to that at Grass Lake. The pond was full to the crest of the dam, thus showing that it was occupied by beavers, which fact was afterward further confirmed by opening the lodges upon its borders. It seemed to me to be very desirable to perpetuate this dam in a photograph while in its present perfect condition; not so much to fehow the best part of the work, as to verify, in a manner that would admit of no future question, the fact of its extraordinary length when considered in connection with the limited physical powers of its architects. This desire was strengthened by the further consideration that these dams begin to decay as soon as they are deserted by the beavers, and 124 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. quickly thereafter disappear; and that in no cafie do the hitter remain in any district long after the estab- lishment of the first settlements in their vicinity. If anything was done, therefore, it was imperative that it should be done immediately. Having ascertained that my friend, Rev. Josiah Phelps, Rector of St. Peter's Church at Marquette, had an excellent instru- ment, and the necessary chemicals, which, with his skill, he was willing to place at my disposal, and that Mr. Walter Kidder, who, like Mr. Phelps, was an amjiteur photographer, was willing to assist in the work, a programme was arranged among us to secure a photographic representation of this interesting structure. As a conclusion to the subject of beaver dams, I propose to give some account of the manner in which this enterprise was accomplished. At the time the photograph was taken, the Mar- quette and Ontonagon Railroad, which now passes within a mile of this dam, was not completed beyond the Lake Superior Mine; but a very good trail had recently been cut out which, passing within half a mile of its site, made it comparatively easy of access. It was necessary, as a preparatory measure, to cut away the forest for some distance below the dam, and to clear the latter of grass and weeds. The area im- mediately below was heavily wooded with tamarack, cedar, and spruce, interspersed with thickets of alder and willow upon the lowest ground. To prepare the dam for being photographed, and to arrange the sta- tions for the instrument, I went in with a part}' of men in advance, and commenced the work. Having previously ascertained that the instrument would take, upon a ten-inch plate, fifty feet of the dam BEAVER DAMS. 126 measured in a straight line, when stationed at a dis- tance of sixty-two feet, and show its structure with sufficient minuteness, we adopted a plan to ])hotograpii it upon seven such plates. In the first place, eight stations were established, and flag-staffs erected, de- fining the space assigned to each plate. Of these, the firs'., six were in a straight line, and each was in, or near the crest line of the dam. At the sixth station the general direction of the dam inclined down stream, with which divergence the last two were made to cor- respond. We then cut a line ten feet wide through the thickets of willow and alder, removing the forest trees as well, running it parallel with the flag-staffs, and sixty-two feet below them. This line was for the movement as well as to afford a position for the scaf- fold for the instrument. After this, it was necessary to determine the position for the scaffold in front of each section of fifty feet of the dam, and then to cut out a triangular opening between the two, having its apex at the scaffold station. It was further found advisable to make the first section of the dam, com- mencing at the end on the right, seventy feet long; the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, each fifty feet; and the seventh and last, seventy feet. The first plate taken was to be of the second section, with the ocaffbld immediately in front of its centre, and the second of the first section, by turning the instrument to the right, and not otherwise changing its position. At this angle it would embrace the whole seventy feet, as well as make the background harmonious as to these two plates. After that the scaffold was to be removed successively to the centre of each remaining section on to the sixth, from which point the last sec 126 THE AMERICAN HEAVER. mi) lUi iiii' 1 tion of seventy feet was to be tjiken by turning the instrument to the left, without changing its focal position, as dune in the previous case. This would give to the seven plates a lineal length of three hun- dred and ninety feet, and an actual length of dam, measured upon its sinuous crest, of four hundred and twenty-six feet. The dam, for the htatnamed length, is shown in the plates, witli the background of the pond und surrounding forest three times repeated in the three central plates. Besides this, however, a portion of the dam sixty-two feet long is not shown. When the dam had approached witliin six feet of the bank on the left side, it turned directly down stream parallel with it, and was 'Extended for the distance last named, when it jSnally terminated in the bank; thus forming a narrow canal which followed the dam down to its extreme end. The point where it turns is concealea from view by a clump of cedar-trees which are seen in the left end of the plate. Two days were expended by this advance party in cutting out the several lines, establishing the stations, and in making a commencement of the work. On Tuesday, the 30th day of September, 1862, with the instrument and chemicals packed in boxes, we went up the railroad from Marquette to the Superior Mine, where we organized and provisirned our par\y for an encampment of several day? at the dam, some six miles distant. The next day proved unfavorable, with mist and rain, but we reached our destination without accident to the materials, erected two brush- camps, framed and put together a movable scaflb'd twelve feet high, with a ladder to mount it, and finished clearing away the area in front of the first BEAVEK DAMS. 127 two sections. The work of chopping was also «Nin- tinucd, as we found it neces.uiry to cut down and remove all the trees Ibr twenty-five feet in width along the entire front of the dam, as well as from the triangular space in front of each scaffold station. Besides this, the dark tent for preparing the plates was also erected. When, at a late hour, we sat down to our dinner, in this secluded place, our party of nine men, with their camps under the shade of the tall tf riiaracks, and the great dam stretching across from hill to hill, presented quite a novel spectacle. The next day, Thursday, came out clear and bright, and we commenced early. Section two was first taken, and the attempt proved succesitu] ; then section one, and after that section three, with equal success. After this, the fourth plate was tried and failed; three other plates of the jame section were also successively tried and failed; whereupon, at four o'clock, we gave up for the day, except the v/ork of chopping and clear- ing, which were continued to the last hour of our stay. About ten o'clock that night it clouded up, and soon thereafter we had wind and rain. Friday morn- ing came in with fog and mist, which lasted through- out the day, with a breaking up toward evening, but no sun. We took two other plates of section four, and decided to keep the last. On the afternoon of this day I made a new and careful measurement of the dam, with the result gi^eii below, and also opened aiid measured the two lodges appurtenant to the structure. The next day would be Saturday, and our last chance, and we had three plates yet to take. As we were six miles from the nearest habitation 128 THE AMERICAN nEAVKR. and twf'uty-tliroe from Marquottc, wo woiild ho oom- pelled to hroak up our oncanipmont ut noon to roacli town that ni<:ht, where my friend, tlie rector, was needed to olliciate in another capacity on the ensuing Sahbath. I began to fear for the residue of my picture, as the night set in rainy, with thunder and lightning. Morning came, bringing with it no sun, but a gale of • wind, winch set tlie tall tamaracks crashing down around us. Those, against which our camps were constructed, were twisted oil"; but as the wind came down the pond, we were safe in the open space below the dam, and besides this, it soon lifted tiie clouds. Having moved the scaffold the day previous to the front of the fifth section, with the first appearance of sunlight this section was taken successfully on the first trial, after which it was removed to the fifth and last position, from which the sixth and seventh plates were taken with equal success. As the last three plates, like the first three, were taken in sunshine more or less strong, while the fourth was taken under heavy clouds, we moved back the scaffold in front of the latter section, tried again and succeeded, and our work was done. We then packed up our materials, broke up our camp, and returned to the railroad sta- tion in time for the last train to Marquette; having t ccomplished, whether important or otherwise, the undertaking of preserving a permanent memorial of this remarkable beaver structure.* The pond covers about twenty-five acres of land. ^ The photographs put together make a picture six feet and eight inches long. It was expected, when the text was written, that this dam would be engraved. BKAVKR DAMS. 129 and continues lu^rosa tlio entire length of tlie dam, altlioiigii <{uite narrow U[)on it8 lul't iitilt'. MeaaurementH. Htrilnlit line. Qro^X llin- of lUm. Pirnt neotion T'lfcct. HI (Vcl )> iiu-lie». Mecond Heofioii GO" 6.S " t) •• Third suction 60 " tiri " « " Fouriii Mcction 60 " (io •• t( Fifth section 60" 67 • •» " Sixth Kfction 50" 67 " 0 " Seventh Hcclioii 70" 64 " 0 " Hero the dam turns down Hlrcuni 10 rt. from bank, and runs ti2 " Total length of dam measured on crest line, IHH tuvt. Other MenHurementa. Slope of lower face Slope 0' viterface Depth of .ater at end ot slope Vertical height of dam AtM) I At 85 I At 1441 At 200 At 'Jtiol At .'in' At .'t7fi ft.frdiii ft.frciiii ft.froiii ft.frdiii (l.fii.iii IVfioni ft.fnuii end. Ft. In. 3 C 8 7 o o end. Ft In. 8 6 10 8 end. Ft. In. 10 8 12 9 4 0 rnil. Ft. In. 8 y end. end. end. Ft. In. AV. In. Ft. In 8 8 5 1 8 (3 7 5 1 8 6 <> 4 1 8 i This dam is a continuous work from one end to the other. In two or three places there is a natural ris'^ of the ground as high as the top of the dam for . „ feet in length, but the inner slope is bunked with earth, and the summit worked. There are other places where the embankment is solid, showing very little wood intermixed, but it is artificial. The depth of the pond a few feet back, or at the end of the water slope, does not necessarily show the original ground surface, as earth may have been brought up from the bottom to place upon the dam; and yet the removal 130 TlIK AMKRK AN IlKAVKH. of tlio oarth from a puirit nn nciir would Hoom to cn- (lun^'tT till! work, ami to Im' for tins n-UHon iriiprolnihlc. Tal\( n as a wliolo, aiiof earth near the water, crying for their mother, whom he afterward found in one of his traps. On one occasion I was similarly deceived in an Indian lodge at the mouth of the Yellowstone River, where a young beaver was lapping milk from a saucer while an Indian baby was pulling its fur. It was not until after several repetitions that I noticed that it was the cry of the beaver instead of the child. When the first litter attain the age of two years, and in the third summer after their birth, they are sent out from the parent lodge to seek mates and establish families for themselves, in which movement they are followed by each successive litter upon the attainment of the same age. Such at least is the uniform testimony of both Indian and white trappers, in support of which they assign the following reasons: first, that when they capture an entire family in one lodge or burrow, which is not unfrequent, they rarely, if ever, find more than two old beavers, the remainder being under two years old ; and that the usual number found in one lodge ranges from four to eight, and rarely exceeds twelve: secondly, that these numbers exhaust the accommoda- tions of the lodge: thirdly, that old beavers arc jealous of, and hostile to their young after they attain ma- 136 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. 1 i turity: and, lastly, their well-known propensity to pair. A fanciful notion prevails among the Indians, that if young beavers, thus sent out, fail to pair, they are allowed to return to the parent lodge and remain until the ensuing summer; but as a mark of parental disapprobation, for their ill matrimonial success, they are required to do the work of repairing the dam. There is another ramification of the same conceit, to the eflfect that if they fail again to mate in the ensu- ing summer, they are not allowed to return a second time, but that they become from thenceforth "outcast beavers." The existence of such a class is believed in, to some extent, both by the Indians and trappers, and the two notions together furnish the only founda- tion for the fiction at one time believed that there was a class of slave beavers.' These "outcasts," so called, ' This belief in the existence of a class of slave beavers appears to have been of Arabian origin. In the " Wonders of Creation," by Kazvviui, an Arabian author who wrote in a.d. 1288, is the following account: "The beaver (kundur) is a land and water animal that is found in the smaller rivers of the country Isa [north of the present government of Novgorod]. He builds on the bank of the river a house, and makes for himself in this an elevated place in the form of a bench ; then, on the right hand, about a step lower, one for his wife, and on the left, one for his young ones, and on the lower part of the house, one for his ser- vants. His dwelling possesses in the lower part an egress toward the water, and another higher one toward the land. If, therefore, an enemy comes on the water side, or the water rises, he escapes by the egress leading to the land; but if the enemy comes on the land side, by that which leads to the water. He nourishes himself on the flesh of fishes and the wood of the Ghelendech (? willow). The merchants of that country are able to distinguish the skins of the servants from that of the masters ; the former hew the C'hclen- dech wood for their masters, drag it with their maw, and break it BEAVER LODGES AND BURROWS. 137 are probably such beavers as, having lost their mates, refused afterward to pair, and led thenceforth solitary lives in burrows. Beavers migrate from place to place more or less every season, and particularly when a district becomes overstocked. There is an annual migration down the Missouri River, usually in the month of Juno, which becomes the more marked from the inability of the migrants ever to find their way back agr '^ its ix)wer- ful current.* The Indians affirm that in their local migrations the old beavers go up stream, and the young go down, assigning as a reason that, in the struggle for existence, greater advantages are afforded near the source than lower down upon any stream, wherefore the old beavers wisely appropriate the former. For his aquatic life, he needs, as well as possesses, special organic adaptations. He is not only capable of suspending respiration for an interval of several minutes while swimming under water, but also of putting forth, at the same time, his full physical strength. With a relatively small heart and lungs, his respiration is necessarily moderate in amount; but in pieces with their forehead, so that in conseqaence of this office the hair of the head falls out on the right and left side. The merchants, who are aware of this fact, recognize in the hair of the forehead thus rubbed ofiF the skin of the servant. In the skin of the master this mark of recognition is wanting, as he employs himself with catching fish." — (Brandt, Memoires de I'Acaddmie de S. Petersbourg, tone vii. 349.) * A trapper whom I met on the Missouri River, in 1862, below Fort Piere, in Nebraska, informed me that the beavers were then (May 27) coming down the river; that he saw thom daily, and had taken over fifty. 138 TIIK AMKRICAN BEAVER. as the blood must circulate while respiration is fius- pended, other and independent vessels are provided near the heart for its reception, where it accumulates until respiration is resumed. If this blood were th cown upon the lungs while their functions were suspended, it would produce suffocation. It is said that I ^ will swim a quarter of a mile under water without coming to the surface. Trappers differ as to the time he will remain under water, but agree in placing it between five and ten minutes. Mr. Alchinson, a Lake Superior trapper, informed me that he once held a beaver, caught in a trap, under w^ater for the full space of ten minutes, as he believed, without extinguishing life. In the winier they are often compelled to swim fifty and a hundred rods under the ice to find open water; and they have boen seen to take in a fresh cutting, through a hole in the ice, and swim with it for thirty rods to their lodge. The musk-rat, whose aquatic habits, and use of the pond, the burrow, and the lodge, affiliate him with the beaver, resorts to a singular but well- attested expedient to lengthen the period of sus- pended respiration, w^hich may be mentioned in this connection. When swimming under ice he comes up to its lower surface, and, having expelled the air from his lungs, waits for a moment, and then, after drawing in again the bubbles of air, proceeds on his way. This fact has been confirmed to me by so many dif- ferent observers, that I see no reason to disbelieve its truth. Whether the air, by its contact with the ice, recovered some property of which it had become ex- hausted, I leave as a question to those capable of its determination. It is claimed that the beaver resorts BEAVER LODGES AND BURROWS. 139 to the same eKpcJient, but I have not been able to verify the fact. The body of the beaver is nearly, if not perfectly, balanced upon his hip joints. From these points as fulcrums, and by means of his hind legs, feet, and tail; he has the full command of his bodily motions, particularly in the water, without depending upon his fore feet. In swimming, the propelling power is in the hind feet and legs, which are so furnished and articulated as to make him a rapid and powerful swimmer. ]For the same reason, when on land, his paw^s become liberated, and he is thus enabled to take up earth and stones, and, holding them under his throat, to carry them short distances, walking upon his hind feet; and also to handle sticks ai d 'imbs of trees. It is thus in his structural organization that we discover the possibility of his architectural skill.' It is another characteristic of the beaver that he is a burrowing animal. Indulging this propensity, he excavates chambers under ground, and constructs artificial lodges upon its surface, both of which are indispensable to his security and happiness. The lodge is but a burrow above ground, covered with an artificial roof, and possesses some advantages over the latter as a place for rearing their young. There are * The otter is balanced much in the same manner, but he is smaller, more slender, and more agile in his movements. As a swimmer he is superior to the beaver. He will pursue and cap- ture a fish with ease and certainty. In swimming, hih fore feet are not used, but are pressed back against his body, as in the case of the beaver. His bite sustains the statement of Aristotle with reference to the European otter, viinua the fancy for hearing the cracking of the bones. (Supra, p. 36.) a»W.-J«r»»*idUrK«JlW/«w' -••*.•.!«(->'.-• •• 140 THE AMF.UICAN nEAVEU. reasons for ])elieving that the burrow is the normal resi(U'nco of tlio beavor; and that the hxlw grow out of it, in tlie prof^^ress of tlioir I'xpt'rionct*, ))y natural sungestion. This subj(K't will bo rofoned to aiiain. We hav(! })ofore soo'; that o> ij n^ tlie princijjal objec^t^ of the (lam 'va; tl o i" vni.,i; jn t a poiul; t!ms show- inu; a desire, on th'» p. < ' ;! i architects, to maintain a large body of water * , a per' ■•inont level for some special use. We come now to m([aire its uses, so far as they relate to the lodge and the burrow. There are several v^arioties of the beaver lodijo, each of which is adapted to the peculiarities of its situation; but they collectively represent different applications of the same general principle of construction. Thus we find an island, a river bank, and a lake lodge, each of which has special characteristics. The same is true, in a less degree, of their burrows. Each will be considered in its order. Where large ponds are formed by means of dams, it is not unusual to find small grass islands rising a few inches above the level of the water. These islands were probably produced by fallen trees which had been Hooded and destroyed by the pond, and upon the decayed remains of which x^egetation had sprung. In other cases there are islands of firm earth which chanced to rise naturally above the surface of the water. These, whether unsubstantial or firm, are generally selected as the sites for their lodges because of the additional protection which insulation affords. The lodge represented in the engraving (Plate XIII.) is situated upon one of the low grass islands described, and is one of the two found in Grass Lake above the great dam. As it was engraved from a photograph, it 3 & til pi % pa o a Q O > 1—1 > r 5* Od > 7^ O Q 00 w I Il 'i'\ its ab( yei It wt ac rei wl fe< up wi th at ro wl of nc Wl b3 Fr Wi Fr Wi Ve tl bi sa tl m BRAVER LODT.KS AND lU'RHOWS. 141 in an accurate representation cf a l)eaver lodjre, nud of its Hurrounding landscape. Tliis lod<;e' is considerably above tbe ordinary size, and a good specimen. In the year IcSllO I opened it, and measured its inner chamber. It was not accessible from the land without a boat, and we wer«» compelled to fell a tree from the main land across to the island as a means of transit. When we reached it, we found it very unsubstantial; the turf, which was saniratcd with water, yielding under our feet with a rocking motion. The lodge was situated upon the edge of the island, and was girded around with a moac or trench about three feet wide, and from three to four feet deep, which opened out into the pond at the outer edge of the lodge. Externally it was a rounded and dome-shaped mass of poles and sticks, which were trimmed of their branches and stripped of their bark, and interlaced much in the same man- ner as those upon the lower faces of their dams. It was oblong in form rather than round, as will appear by the following measurements : From the water level, on the right in the engraTing, to the water Ictri on the left, measured over apex of lodge 22 ft. 6 inches. Width of lodge at base or water line 16 ■' 4 *' From water level in front, to same on back side, measured over apex of lodge 26 " 10 '• Width of lodge at base or water line, from front to baclc... 19 " 9 " Vertical height of lodge above water level 4" 6 " We commenced opening it at the top. A few of the poles on the surface were loose and easily removed, but at a few inches below the apex we found them so ^ The Ojibwas call a beaver lodge wig-encam' , which is the same word they employ to designate their own bark house. When they make tbe distinction, they prefix tbe word for beaver, ah- mick'. ' I 142 THE AMKKirAN UKAVER. intorwovon nnd itnlMMldod in cartli and hmm, that it waM iiii|)(>S!^il)i(> to l()(»Hon them with our liaiids. About a loot Ik'Iow till' Hiirfaeo tlio walls wore sul).stai»tially Holid. With tlic aid of an axo, howevrr, and al'tiT an hour's hard hihor, wo sucwrdod in mailing an opening throuj^ii the roof about tiiree fwi in diameter, which uncovered and disclosed the chamber very perfectly. Fifi. !t. Ground Plan. Island Ludgc. (i It is shown in the annexed figure (Fig. 9). The roof had settled down in the centre from the superincum- bent weight, but not so far as to interfere with the nEAVF.R LoPfJFS AND lURROWS. 113 nc(Mi!nnu»(ljitit)ns of tlio ciinTnlK>r. It liiul no Hnp))ort uri'lcr it of imv Uiiul wlniti'vcr. Aftrr n-iuoviii'' tlio materials wlii(;h hail fallen in from the rtnA' ii|ion tlio floor, w(' found the lattor hard, .smooth, and dean, with fresh-cut grass around the outer horder for their nests; thus showing that it was an occupied lodge. In standing upon the Hoor of the chamber, the he(d of n lM)ot did not indent the surface, although it was hut two inches above the level of the pond. This last fact was shown by the level ut which the water stood in the entrances, two in number, which came through the floor in the outer edge of the chamber, as shown in the figure. MraHurementH. T.nngitiulinal diameter of chainbrr 7 ft. 8 iu. Transverse 7 " Vertical height 1 ft. to 1 ft. 4 in. Size of cntnincos through floor 15 in. square. Length of each entrance respectively 10 and 7 feet. The roof was about three feet, and the side walls from four and a half to five and a half feet thick, which rendered ^t, as a structure, both strong and durable. Among the characteristics of the beaver is that of cleanliness in his lodges and burrows. Nothing ap- peared in this chamber to detract from his reputation in this respect. There was no opening for light or ventilation; but yet, from the porous nature of the materials, as put together, sufficient air would pene- trate the lodge tiom without to satisfy the require- ments of its occupants, whose low respiration enables them to endure the confined atmosphere of the lodge and the burrow. In the winter season, their breath, rising through the top of the lodge, dissolves the snow and forms a chimney opening over it, which not only 144 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. continues their supplj' of air, but .also reveals their habitation to the trapper. The entrances to a beaver lodge, of which there are usually two, and sometimes more, are the most remarkable parts of the structure. They are made with great skill, and in the most artistic manner. In new lodges there is generally but one, but others are added with their increase in size under the process of repairing, until, in large lodges, there are sometimes three and four. These entrances are of two kinds. One is straight, or as nearly so as possible, with its floor, which is of course under water, an inclined plane, rising gradually from the bottom of the pond into the chamber; while the other is abrupt in its descent, and often sinuous in its course. The first we shall call the "wood entrance," from its evident design to facilitate the admission into the chamber of their "wood cuttings," upon which they subsist during the season of winter. These cuttings, as will else- where be shown, are of such size and length that such an entrance is absolutely necessary for their free admission into the lodge. The other, which we shall call the "beaver entrance," was the ordinary run-way for their exit and return. It is usually abrupt, and often winding In the lodge under consideration, the wood entrance descended from the outer rim of the chamber outward about ten feet to the bottom of the pond in a straight line, and upon an inclined plane ; while the other, emerging from the rim of the chamber at the side, descended quite abruptly to the bottom of the moat or trench, through which the beavers must pass, in open water, out into the pond. Both entrances were rudely arched over with a roof BEAVER LODGES AND ni'HUOWS. n. of interlaced stiv.'ks filled in with imid intermixed with vegetable fibre, and were extended to the bottom of the pond and trench, Avitli the excejition of tiie ojkmi- ings at their ends. At the places where they were constructed through the floor they were finished with neatness and precision; the upper parts and sides forming an arch more or less regular, while the bottom and floor edges were formed with firm and compacted earth, in which small sticks were imbedded. It is difficult to realize the artistic appearance of some of these entrances without actual inspection. These lodges, at first smjill, and with contracted chambers, are enlarged, both in external size and in internal accommodation, by the process of repairing. After their winter cuttings are peeled of their bark lor food, they are put out of the lodge, and, in due time, a portion of them are placed upon its roof to supply the waste by settlement and decay. Late in the fall, each season, the sides of their lodges, nearly to the summits, are, in some cases, plastered over with mud, which, soon freezing, materially increases their strength. The decayed portion of the walls and roof which form the chamber within are, from time to time, removed, which gradually increases its size. By the two processes of external addition and internal enlargement, continued through a series of years, a lodge is finally produced of the size represented in the engraving. The quantity of sticks, poles, and billets of wood used in its construction was about a cord. It has elsewher3 been stated that the entrances of these lodges were from two to three feet below the surface of the water in all cases, and that in this lodge the level of the water in the pond stood within 10 14G THE AMERICAN BEAVER. f! two inches of the floor of the chamber. In every lodge opened I have found the floor but a few inches, usually from two to six, above the level of the water. The nearer the two to the same level, the easier the introduction of their cuttings, which must b*^ dragged in with their teeth at no small exertion of strength. From the uniform relation found to subsist between the level of the floor and of the pond, it is evident that the beavers regulate the discharge of the surplus Avater through their dams with a view to the maintenance, as near as possible, of a uniform level of the pond. Any great variation, in this respect, would either flood their habitations or expose their entrances; and therefore the maintenance of their dams becomes a matter of constant supervision and perpetual labor. We discover also a reason why their principal repairs, both of their dams and lodges, are deferred to the last moment before going into winter quarters; since their comfort and security are involved particularly in the stability of their dams, which for months together, during the winter, are beyond their control. In choosing the sites of their lodges, so as to be assured of water in their entrances and at their places ol exit, too deep to be frozen to the bottom; in the ad- justment of the floors of their chambers to the level of the ponds; and in their appreciation of the causes of a change of level in these ponds, as well as of t'le remedy, decisive evidence seems to be furnished of their possession of a free intellujence, as well as of constructive skill. One other circumstance remains to be mentioned with reference to this lodge. It was opened and measured, as before stated, in 1860. The following UKAVKU LODGES AND lU'HKOWS. ir year, while going again to Grass Lake dam lor the [)ur|)oso of obtaining a photograph of the saino, I re- gretted the destruction of the lodge, of which a repre- sentation was not less desirable than of the datn. On reaching the lake, I was both surpri>-ed and grtitilied to find that the lodge had been completely restored by the beavers; and the engraving (Plate XIII.) shows tho lodge as it appeared after it had once been par- tially destroyed, and again repaired, in the maimer stated. Fio. 10. Iiiland Lodge. Side view. In this figure of the lodge (Fig. 10), which was taken from the island, its long side is shown, together with the moat by which it is surrounded. The two engravings together represent a beaver lodge so faith- fully and completely as to render unnecessary any further description of their external appearance. Both engravings were made from photographs of the orig- inal. The number of lodges upon the largest ponds rarely exceeds four. In some instances six and eight tiave been found. Upon Grass Lake, as before stated, there Pi 148 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. ii ^ii are but two. botli of whioh arc upon grass islands within tho pond. There are none upon its banks. Another, and e(jually common variety may be called, by way of distinction, the bank lodge. They are of two kinds. One is situated upon the bank of the stream or pond, a few feet back from its edge, and en- tered by an underground passage from the bed of the stream, excavated through the natural earth up into the chamber. The other is situated upon the edge of the l)ank, a portion of it projecting over, and resting upon the bed of the channel, so as to have the floor of the chamber rest upon the bank or on solid ground, while the external wall, on the pond side, projects beyond it, and is bailt up from the bottom of the pond. There is a lodge of this description near dam No. 14 represented in Plate IX. Originally it was a fine lodge; but when I opened and measured it, in 1860, it had been deserted for two or three years, and had fallen into decay. A ground plan is given in Figure 11. One-fourth part of it, which represents the thickness of the external wall, projects beyond the bank into the river, while the remainder, which in- cluded the whole of the chamber, was upon the land. It was constructed in the same manner, and presented the same general appearance, as the one last described. 3Ieasurementii. Height of lodge, on river side, from bed of channel. 6 ft. G inches. Height on land side 3 ft. 6 " irameter on base line, on level of bank 12 ft. ■i'iT.r'jver''e diimelfcr 14 ft. DiituifU'v ". chaP;!' n" 6 ft. Heighi > I bamber from floor of lodge 2 ft. 6 inches. Fciph; '~<'f wiiih au*'. i'oof. 3 ft. to 3 fi. Cinches. BEAVER LODGES AND BURHOWS. 149 The floor of the chamber was hard, level, aiul clean, with small quantities of dried grass scatt(Mvd here and there, but much decayed; showing tiiat the lodge had been for some time deserted. At the two points where the walls of the lodge intersect the banks were the entrances. As the dam had been cut Fio. n. Bank Lodge. Ground Plan. through and the river dra^vn down nearly to its orig- inal level, an excellent opportunity was afforded to examine these entrances where they came through into the chamber, and also the arched way which led down to the bed of the stream. The upper one was the wood entrance, or, at least, the most convenient for that purpose; although both were nearly straigh with a gradual descent, and surprisingly well con- structed. The edges or rims of these passages, where they entered the chamber, were as hard, smf)oth, and regular as if fniished with a mason's trowel; the covered way over each was constructed with a mass E^i I i 1.10 THE AMEUrCAN BEAVER, of interlaced sticks, filled in with loam, and forming a perlect roof; and the bed of each passage-way was composed of earth, made solid by imlxidded sticks, and graded with a regnlar descent. There is nothing — 1 re[)eat the statement — connected with the lodge which excites so much astonishment as the mechan- ical skill displayed in the construction of these en- trances,' In lodges situated like this the entrances are called thi^ ■• angles" by the traj)[)ers. These angles had been "staked out," to use the phrase of the trappers, some years before, and the stakes still remained. Two rows led up to each eiitrance, and were thus driven ill for the purpose of compelling the beavers, on en- tering the lod;_e, to pass through a narrow '»vi>y; within which the traps were to he set for their capture. This is the usurl method of trapping beavers at the lodge. A beaver lodge, from its dome-shaped form, makes a very conspicuous appeararice, particularly when it is symmetrically for'ned and in perfect repair. But they are neither as high nor as narrow at the base as they have been usually represented; and the greater proportion of theni are much inferior to those de- scribed. liodges are more frequently situated a few feet back from the edge of tho bank than in any other position. They are erected and maintained with less labor, but they are usually smaller, and not as con- veniently connected with the water as the varieties ' They are called Ah-me-ko-ish' by the Ojibwas, which signifies " beaver door-way." BANK LUDGEandBEAYEF CAXAL .«*" BEAVKU LODC.CS AND HUHROWS. 161 previou.sly coiiHidcrod. One other hunk htdiir only will Ix) duHcribed, and it will diflbr IVoin the last in being situated wholly upon land. It is located on ii neck of huid formed hy a bend in Carp Kivor belov dam No. 50, and Is shown in Plate XIV. Across the neck a beaver canal liad been cut, about five feet wide on an average, and three feet dcej), at one of the junctions of which with the river the lodge is situated. The river here passes through low and swampy ground, and is broad and sluggish. At high water there would be a current through the canal but for a small dam thrown across in front of the lodge, by which it is prevented. The difference of level in the river at the two ends of the canal can- not exceed an inch. In a subsequent chapter the nature and uses of the canals, which have occasionally been referred to, will be considered. To reach this lodge we descended the river in a boat.' It was opened and measured in September, 1862; it was of ordinary size and appearance, and gave the following external measurements: From base, measured over apex, and parallel with canal. 10 feet 2 inches. Diameter at baseline 10 •' From base over apex at right angles with canal 14 " 9 inches. Diameter at base line 10 " Vertical height of lodge above level of ground 3 " Height of ground above level of river 10 inches. On the top of the lodge we found about three arrn- fuls of the cuttings, of the previous fall, which had been denuded of bark and distributed irregularly over its roof. Having removed the loose sticks and poles, 1 My estimahU- friend, Rev. Henry Fowler, of Auburn, N. Y., was my comjMiriiou on this occasion. 152 TIIK AMERICAN HFAVER. I i I. V: I » & ■ I V i 1 4' > Fio. 12. Arraiig«nioiit, nC I'olcs to I'urm lliiof of Lotlgu. we came, at tlu' drptli of » few inclios, to a mass of stickfj atul cuttings of various sizes imbedded in diy earth or nuu'k, of vv'iiicli the roof was com- posed. When these materials had been removed and the chamber uncovered, we found the roof very cleverly supported by three poles, as shown in the diagram (Fig. 12). No. 1 was G feet 11 inches long, about 2 inches thick, and extended entirely across the chamber into the walls on either side. No, 2 was 4 feet 3 inches long, about 2i inches thick, and rested upon the wall and also upon \)o\(i No 1. And No. 2 was 4 feet long, of the same thickness, and rested the one end upon the wall and the other upon No. 2. Upon these was a network of smaller poles and sticks filled in with muck. Tlie three principal poles formed a perfect and well-contrived support for the roof. Whether this was a new or an old lodge we had no means of ascertain- ing; and, therefore, it did not necessarily follow that they were so arranged by design. If an old lodge, these poles were probably once upon the top, and had come into their present position by the gradual pro- gress of the settlement and decay of the materials underneath, which was followed by their removal from the roof of the chamber within as it was built upon above. The magnitude of the canal is an evidence of its great age, but this again is no evidence of the age of the lodge, w hicli may have been erected after the latter was excavated. An examination of beaver lodges shows quite ciearly that they can be continued nKAVKR i.(>Dr,F,s A\r> luiniows. 153 for fentiirics by the simple piorc-.s. ivpairiiiir. Sucii is (loulitli'SH tlu'ir history. New loilui'S would he de- rniinded with an iiieiviise in imiiihers up to ii eertaiu limit, hut otherwise they would not, in nil prohahility, he ccmstructed. Around the outer rim of the chamher [V'l'i. 18) there was fresh dry iJtrass for beds, which had evitUnitly been recently cut from the meadows. In the (HMitre of the floor there was a large quantity of old and de- cayed jiijrass, damp and wet, on the removal of which a considerable depression of the floor was observable. Oround Plan of Loilge The above diagram shows the chamber and the position of the entrances. Mcasiu'cments. Diameter of chamber parallel with canal G feet 5 inches. Transverse diameter G " Height of chamber at centre 1 foot 0 inches. Level of floor below ground 0 " Height of floor above water in entrances 4 " For the purpose of ascertaining the nature of the floor we made an excavation, 1 foot and 9 inches deep, IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I IM 12.5 UiUii ■ 2.2 ^ U^ 12.0 M IIIIM 11^ < 6" ► '\ ^^ / ■<-?, Hiotogra{iric Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STRKT WIBSTU.N.Y. 14SS0 (716)t72-4S03 4 r/> ^ 154 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. Itl through a mass of small beaver cuttings imbedded in loam, of which it was composed, before we came to clear earth. They were mere twigs a few inches long and a quarter of an inch in diameter, and packed down in a solid mass. As the floors of beaver lodges are usually but three or four inches above the level of the water, and so near it as to become thoroughly saturated, it is extremely probable that they are, in all cases, made firm and solid in this way, partly by accident and partly by design. Without some such solidifying process these floors would soon turn into soft mire, and the chambers become uninhabitable. The two entrances, as in the other cases, were the most interesting portions of the structure. One en- tered the canal, and from thence the river to go up stream; the other the river direct for going down stream. The former was nearly straight, with its bottom out to the canal a gentle slope; while the other descended quite abruptly as it emerged from the lodge, and then turning to the left, nearly at right angles, ran straight to the river. Both were neatly constructed, but one only, that which terminated in the canal, was adapted to the purposes of a wood entrance. We were able to run a pole through this passage from the point where it entered the chamber out into the canal, and obtain its length, together with its other dimen- sions, which were as follows : Measurements of Wood Entrance. Length of passage from rim of chamber to caual 7 feet 11 inches. Width of same where it entered chamber 2 " 1 " Width throughout to the canal, about 2 " Depth of water in entrance just without chamber 11^ " Roof of entrance above level of water, at same point 1 foot 5 *' Total height of entrance at same point 1 " 7^ " Depth of soil and roots above passag 3 without lodge 1 " 3 " BEAVER LODGES AND BURROWS. 155 The roof of the passage-way within the walls of the lodge, and for a short distance without, was rounded or arched quite regularly, and constructed with sticks; but for the remainder of the way to the canal it was ground excavation, the roof being strengthened by the roots of alder bushes under which it ran. After leaving the chamber, the roof of the passage-way descended so as to intersect the water at a distance of 3i feet, after which the pas- sage was full of water out to the canal, which it en- tered 3 feet below the surface. The floor of the en- trance or passage-way, just out of the chamber of the lodge, was sprinkled over with short and slender twigs of willow, about 6 inches long and I of an inch thick, which were evidently designed for young beavers. They were green and fresh cuttings, some of them peeled of their bark and thrown out of the chamber, and others with the bark on ready for use. I made a small bundle of these tit-bits for young beavers, and preserved them as a memorial of this lodge. The other, or beaver entrance, opened out from the chamber on the canal side, and, after descending for a short distance, turned abruptly to the left, after which it ran under ground nearly in a straight line to the river, as before stated. Measurements of -Beaver Entrance. Width at edge of chamber... 1 foot 8 inches. Depth of water in same, at ditto 10 " Height of entrance above water 6 " Total height from bottom to roof of entrance 1 foot 4 " Length of passage-way 11 feet 6 " Short cuttings might have been carried into the chamber through this passage, but not those of any 156 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. length. Besides this, as they almost invariably trans- port their cuttings down stream, the other, from its location, was the proper wood entrance. As the river was too shallow, on the lodge side, for their conceal- ment, the beavers had excavated a channel, about 2 feet deep, in its bed for a distance of 25 feet out into Jeep water. The artificial character of this channel was perfectly manifest. We piled up the sticks and poles taken from this lodge, and estimated the contents at half a cord. It was of the average size, and a fair specimen of these structures. With the minute description, now concluded, of island and bank lodges, it will be unnecessary to enter into details with reference to other varieties, e.Kcept to point out differences where they exist. Fro. 14. Lake Lodge. Ground Plan. It has elsewhere been stated that beavers inhabit the small lakes as well as the flowing streams. They construct lodges upon their shores, which, as they are usually shelving and have a hard bottom, render some further variation in structure necessary. The lodge represented in the above ground plan (Fig. 14) is situated upon the south shore of Lake Diamond, a few BEAVER LODGES AND BURROWS. 157 rods above its outlet. Two-thirds of it were built out upon the lake for the obvious purpose of covering the entrance as well as for its extension into deep water. It measured, on the line of the shore, seventeen feet over its summit, and twenty-four feet in the trans- verse direction, and was three ieet and a half high. The chamber was between the five trees which were growing through the lodge and connected with the lake by a long passage-way within the lodge. It was constructed of sticks and poles in the usual man- ner. A few rods above there was another lodge built out upon the water in the same way and for the same object. Similar lodges are found upon the shores of most of the lakes within the area embraced by the map. They are chiefly interesting as illustrations of their capacity to vary the mode of construction of their lodges in accordance with the changes of situation. The finest lodge I have seen was upon a grass island in Lake Flora. It was remarkable for its regular and symmetrical proportions. Externally it was a mass of naked poles and sticks, rather conical than dome-shaped, four feet high and sixteen feet over the apex. Its base was smaller than usual, relatively to its height. This lodge was the habitation of the beaver whose skeleton is represented in Plate III. I first saw it in 1862. In 1865 I went again to see it with the intention of obtaining a photograph, but fopnd it deserted and going to decay. Beavers are found upon the Missouri River from the mountains down to the mouth of the Big Sioux, along a distance of more than fifteen hundred miles, although the signs of their presence are not abundant 158 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. below the Yellowstone. Above the mouth of the last named river their tree cuttings are seen in great num- bers on the banks at intervals all the way to the Fio. 15. False Lodge, Upper Missouri. mountains, with the exception of the district known as the Bad Lands. They live in burrows in the banks, but protect the entrances to them by a false lodge, as shown in the figure. After the river has subsided to its lowest level, which is shortly after the first of September, they construct a lodge upon the bed of the river and against its vertical bank. It is built of sticks and poles of willow and cotton-wood, in the precise manner of the lodges described, without being intended for a residence, but instead of that, as a pro- tection to the entrance to their burrow, which rises from under this lodge back into the bank and well up toward the surface, where the chamber or burrow is excavated. The materials used in the construction of this lodge furnish undoubtedly a portion of their supply of wiiiver wood, as well as a lodgment for their short cuttings for the same purpose. With the spring rise in the river most of these lodges are swept away; but as the entrances to their bur- BEAVER LODGES AND BURROWS. 159 rows are then deep below the surface of the water, the security of their habitations is not endangered until the river again subsides in the fall, when they are again reconstructed. I saw a number of these lodges between the Yellowstone River and the Rocky Mountains, in June, 18G2, which had with* stood the great freshet of that year; and made the above sketch of one of them. The entrances or pas- sage-ways often extend back twenty feet into the bank, and each communicates with one or more under- ground chambers which are always found near the surface. Trappers who have opened them describe the chambers as small, but neatly formed and clean. Lodges are occasionally seen upon the river banks and upon the bottom lands, but from the extent of the cutting among the cottonwood-trees, which sometimes lay in piles upon each other, it is evident that most of the beavers inhabit the river banks. Whether beaver lodges ever have more than one chamber is a question. It has been stated that two have been found, in some instances, one above the other. I have opened a large number of these lodges in dissimilar situations, and never found but one with two chambers, and these were upon the opposite sides of a fallen tree, over which the lodge was constructed. The chambers communicated with each other by water, though not directly. In some cases three or four lodges have been found in a cluster, and so near together as to have a common roof; on opening which it was ascertained that each had its separate passages to the water, and no communication with +he others. They were separate lodges, built side by side, and probably at diflferent periods; and were turned into 160 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. I Hi one externally by the process of repairing in the man- ner previously stated. Two or three thus situated relatively are occasionally seen in the Lake Superior region. A Rocky Mountain trapper informed me that he had opened a loJge, upon one of the tributaries of the Missouri, which contained four chambers, each communicating with the other, and with the pond, and in one of which he found a quantity of cuttings stored for winter use. The other statement with ref- erence to lodges with two chambers, one above the other, appears to be without foundation. As a general rule, the lodge has a single chamber, and where two or more aro placed side by side, there is no connec- tion between them. In addition to the lodge, the same beavers, who in- habit it, have burrows in the banks surrounding the pond. They never risk their personal safety upon the lodge alone, which, being conspicuous to their enemies, is liable to attack. These burrows are the ultimate places of refuge to which they are more apt to retire than to their lodges, when disturbed on the land. Along their canals, also, the burrows are nu- merous, since while in their narrow channels they are more exposed than while in the ponds. These bur- rows are small underground chambers. They are en- tered by a passage-way, usually under the roots of a tree standing in the edge of a pond, which, with the chamber, are from ten to fifteen feet in length. As the entrances are always below the surface level of the pondji^ there are no external indications to mark the site of a burrow except one, and that occasional only, which will be hereafter noticed. A description of two or three of these burrows, with diagrams and measurements, will illustrate their character. BEAVER LODGES AND BURROWS. 101 This burrow (Fig. 16) is on the east side of the lake, a few rods south of the outlet of Lake Diamond. There Fio. 16. Ground Plnn of Beaver Btirrow at Grass Lake. are two entrances, separated by a stone, and roofed over with roots and earth. The one upon the right side passes under the edge of a rock ; the one on the left, under the roots of a tree; and both are two feet below the surface of the water. Within the distance of fifteen feet from the pond, the bank rose about seven feet above its level. The burrow rose also with the bank, so that at the distance of eight feet from its mouth, the roof of the burrow came within six inches of the surface of the ground above, and at its extreme end within three inches, the roots of the overspreading forest trees forming a covering of suffi- cient strength. It was evidently carried thus near the surface for the admission of air through the ground roof. The chamber, in its most capacious portion, was a foot high and twenty inches wide. With its branches it would afford ample accommoda- tions for a beaver £a,mily. I found it accidentally by observing a small opening into it at its extreme end, which enabled me to open the remainder of it easily 11 t 162 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. for the purpoHG of measurement. The breach pre- viously made had destroyed it for beaver use. POND Ground Plan of second Boaver Burrow nt Qrass Lake. i III About twenty feet above the great dam, and upon the south side of the pond, is the burrow represented in the above figure (Fig. 17). It ascends with the bank, which it enters under the roots of a tree, is ten feet long, and has a chamber twenty inches in width and a foot high. It terminates under the roots of a pine-tree, where its roof comes within four inches of the surface of the ground. It is a good specimen of the ordinary burrow. North of the Cleveland Mine there is a natural pond, shown on the map, which will be more particularly de- scribed hereafter. The canals which enter it have a number of burrows upon their upper portions, one of which is represented in the figure (Fig. 18). This bur- row is shown in Plate XVIII., and is the one nearest to the pond. It was found open at the centre and also at the extreme end. The length of the passage-way from the canal was eleven feet, and this communicated with a chamber three feet two inches by two feet and a half BEAYER LODGES AND IIURROWS. 163 in ground diinenHiouM, and al)oiit ton inches \i\\i}\. The roof of the latter came near to the Hurface, and wan formed chiefly of the roots of the clump of trees under Fio. IR. Ground Plan of Burrow on UeaTcr Csnal. which it was excavated. Water stood in the passage- way nearly to the chamber. It is a fine specimen of a burrow. Fio. 19. Beaver Burrow. Orbund Plaa. Burrows are often found excavated under fallen trees when lying near the pond. The above figure (Fig. 19) shows one of this description near dam No. 14. A canal about ten feet long and from three 104 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. to four wide, leftdw up to the r(X)tM of a tree, back of which are two logs. The burrow wan excavated under thene fallen trees, which were much decayed, and the entrance to it was under the nwts of the tree in front of them. No further description is necessary; and this, with the foregoing illustrations, sufficiently pre- sent the subject of burrows. The necessity for pro- tecting the entrances to these burrows by a sufficient depth of water in the pond to cover them, illustrates still further the uses of the dam and the imi)ortance of nuiintaining the pond at a uniform level. . The small number of lodges found upon the largest ponds, and tlie large number of burrows, renders it probable that there arc more beavers in every pond thon the lodges can accommodate; ond yet it is difficult to ascertain the truth of the matter. The lodges are undoubtedly warmer in the summer than the burrows, and therefore better adapted to the rear- ing of their young. If this use determined the num- ber, then the lodges would show the number of fami- lies inhabiting the pond. Beavers without mates, or who have lost their mates, would, in all probability, lead solitary lives in burrows; and these, with the full families in the several lodges would, most likely, represent the number of beavers in each pond. At all events, the trappers, whose rules are founded upon experience and observation, estimate the number of beavers in each pond by the number of lodges, reck- oning eight to the lodge in the Rocky Mountain region, and seven in that of Lake Superior. In the Cascade Mountains, the beavers live chiefly in burrows in the banks of the streams, rarely con- structing either lodges or dams. Upon this subject, Dr. Newberry, in his report on the Zoology of Oregon IIEAVER LODGES AND BURROWS. ig:. and California, remarks: "The Hides of these streams are lined with their habitations, thou^di we never saw their houses, and seldom a dam; hut usually their burrows penetrated the sides of the streams, a sufli- eiently large and long excavation being made to form warm, roomy, and comfortable quarters. We found the beavers in numbers, of which, when applii'd to beavers, I had no conception."' The burrows of beavers inhabiting river banks are said to be occasionally detected by a small pile of beaver cuttings found heaped up in a rounded pile, a foot or more high, at the extreme end of each burrow. It is affirmed by the trappers, and with some show of probability, that this is a contrivance of the beavers to keep the snow loose over the ends of their burrows, in the winter season, for the admission of air. I have never seen these miniature lodges, and therefore can- not confirm the statement, either as to their existence or use ; but if, in fact, they resort to this expedient, it is another reason for inferring that the lodge was developed from the burrow with the progress of ex- perience. It is but a step from such a surface-pile of sticks to a lodge, with its chamber above ground, with the previous burrow as its entrance from the pond.' A burrow accidentally broken through at the upper end, and repaired with a covering of sticks and earth would lead to a lodge above ground, and thus inaugurate a beaver lodge out of a broken burrow. ' Explorations for a Railroad Route, etc. to the Pacific. VI. Zoology, 258. ' The Ojibwaa call a burrow 0-wazhe, whence the name "wash," commonly used by the trappers to denote a beaver burrow. I CHAPTER VI. SUBSISTENCE OF BEAVERS. Subsistence exolusively Vegetable — Kinds of Baric preferred — Roots of Plants — Incisive Teeth Chisels — Their cutting Power — It diminishes with Age — Provisions for Winter — Season for collecting — Falling Trees — Their siio — Number of Beavers engaged — Manner of cutting — Chips — Short Cuttings — Moving them on Land — Floating them in Water — Sink- ing them in Piles — Wood-eating — Evidence that they eat Clear Wood — Brush-heap at Lodge restricted to Particular Places — Their Use — Ponds in V/inter — Winter Life of Beavers. The nutriment of the beaver is drawn exclusively from the vegetable kingdom. They subsist princi- pally upon the bark of deciduous trees. Where the variety is large, they prefer, as is shown by their cut- tings, yellow birch, cotton-wood, poplar, and willow. These are their chief reliance. They also eat the bark of the soft and bird's-eye maple, of the walnut, and of the black and white ash, together with various kinds of roots, such as those of the pond lily, and of the coarse grasses that grow in the margins of their ponds. Late in the winter they eat clear wood, and such roots as they can reach from their burrows or find in the banks. This subject of wood eating will be referred to again. In the summer they rarely cut large trees, but live upon the bark of the smaller ones, upon willow and raspberry bushes, and upon different kinds of roots. Notwithstanding the great abund- ance of food at this season of the year, they are usu- ally the fattest in the winter. (166) SUBSISTENCE OF BEAVERS. 167 As cutting instruments, they are armed with power- ful incisive teeth, by means of which they are able to cut down forest trees of surprising size in comparison with their own diminutive forms. Their teeth are chisels in form and structure, and also in efficiency. When at the age of eighteen months, and from that on to two and three years old, their teeth, which during thesa periods are in a rapidly growing state, are in the best condition for cutting. After this, as they grow older, their teeth file down with constant use, and growing less rapidly, become dull and inef- ficient in cutting. It is said that the diminution of cutting power is so great that very old beavers are often unable to provide themselves with food suffi- cient for their sustenance during the winter, and, in consequence, become poor and feeble. A beaver of this description was caught, in the fall of 1864, on one of the dams of the Esconauba, and upon being shown to William Bass (Ah-sh^-gos), an Ojibwa trap- per extremely well versed in the habits of the beaver, he remarked that, "had he escaped the trap, he would have been killed by other beavers, before the winter closed, for stealing cuttings." Such beavers are often found dead, with gashes in their bodies, showing that they had been attacked by their associates, which oc- currences the Indians explain in this way. The thick bark upon the trunks of large trees, and even upon those of medium size, is unsuitable for food; but the smaller limbs, the bark of which is tender and nutritious, afford the aliment which they prefer. To cut down a tree, by persevering labor, in order to reach its limbs and branches, is of itself an act of intelligence and knowledge of no ordinary 168 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. i > 1 I il ' 1 1 character. Their practice of cuttinar down trees is sufficiently well underHtood ; but precise information is desirable as to the manner in which it is done, the size of the trees felled, and the way in which the limbs are reduced, removed, and stored for winter use. These topics will form the subject of the present chapter. As beavers do not hibernate, they are compelled to provide a store of subsistence for the long winters of the North, during which their ponds are frozen over, and the danger of venturing upon the land is so largely increased as to shut them up, for the most part, in their habitations. In preparing for the winter, their greatest efforts in tree cutting are made. They comtnence in the latter part of September, and con- tinue through October and into November the several employments of cutting and storing their winter wood, and of repairing their lodges and dams. These months are the season of their active labors, which are only arrested by the early snows and the forma- tion of ice in their ponds. It is a feature of the cli- mate of the Lake Superior region, and I presume it is equally true of that around Hudson's Bay, that the snows begin to fall before the frost has entered the ground, whence it is, that throughout the winter the earth remains unfrozen, under a deep covering of snow. In this we recognize a beneficent provision of the Cre- ator for the welfare of the burrowing animals, without which many of them would perish. The beavers, as has elsewhere been stated, perform the most of their work at night; but they come out early in the even- ing, and continue at work during the early morning hours. For the remainder of the day they are rarely seen, except in regions where they are very numer- !. : SUBSISTENCE OF BEAVERS. 109 ous, or are entirely undisturbed by trappers. On the Upper Missouri I liave seen them svvimtning in the river in broad day, and also basking in the sun on the tops of their false lodges under the banks. We brought down with us a young beaver caught with a scoop net, while swimming near the river bank. In the Lake Superior region I have seen them generally in the night, while watching on their dams for this purpose. By making a breach in their dams you can compel them to come out, but it will be late in the night before they show themselves, and they are so wary that it is extremely difficult so to conceal your- self in their immediate vicinity as to see them work. After ice has formed in their ponds, they retire to their lodges and burrows for the winter, and they are not seen again, either by day or night, except in rare instances, until a thaw comes, of which they take advantage to come out after fresh cuttings. It is said that the bark of their winter wood is apt to become soft and sour before spring from soakage in the pond, wherefore a mitigation of the severity of the winter, sufficient to open the ice in their ponds, is in every sense a providential relief. In establishing their lodges so as to adapt them to winter occupation, and in the manner of providing their winter subsistence, the beavers display remark- able forethought and intelligence. The severity of the climate in these high northern latitudes lays upon them the necessity of so locating their lodges as to be assured of water deep enough in their entrances, and also so protected in other respects, as not to freeze to the bottom; otherwise they would perish with hunger, locked up in ice-bound habita^ K ; i; !': 11 f % t! Ill : I! I iii 170 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. tions. To guard against this danger, the dam, also, must be sufhciently stable through the winter to maintain the water at a constant level; and this level, again, must be so adjusted with reference to the floor of the lodge as to enable them, at all times, to take in their cuttings from without, as they are needed for food. When they leave their normal mode of life in the banks of the rivers, and undertake to live in dependence upon artificial ponds of their own formation, they are compelled to forecast the conse- quences of their acts at the peril of their lives. Before entering upon the subject of tree cuttings, it may be proper to make a slight reference to the char- acter of the forests in the principal beaver districts re- ferred to in these pages. On the Upper Missouri and its tributaries, cotton-wood is the prevailing tree, and willow the principal bush. In this region, therefore, as their favorite subsistence is both abundant and conve- nient of access, beavers have been found in the greatest numbers. Upon the Siskatchewun and its affluents, the forest growth is much the same, with a limited proportion of evergreen trees. Around Hudson's Bay and the shores of Lake Superior, the prevailing trees are the tamarack, the spruce, the hemlock, and the pine, but they are interspersed with the birch, the pop- lar, the maple, and other deciduous trees, and also with patches of willow upon the borders of the streams; which together furnish such an abundance of subsistence as to render them but little inferior to the first for beaver occupation. The only differ- ence against the latter is the necessity for transport- ing their cuttings over longer distances. In Cali- fornia, Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia, v.r -9 Zfl M (0 SUBSISTENCE OF BEAVERS. 171 while evergreen trees are the principal forest growth, deciduous tree? are sufficiently abundant for all the purposes of beavei maintenance. There was scarcely any portion of the original forest area of North America, except the exclusively pine tracts, where beavers could not sustain themselves in considerable numbers. Their greatest numbers, however, were found in those particular districts of country where the trees, whose bark was preferred, were found in the greatest profusion. The engraving (Plate XV. Fig. 1) is from a photo- graph of an original specimen now in my collection. It was in the process of being cut down by the beavers in October, 1862, when my attention was called to it by some woodmen, who had observed it on the south shore of Lake Flora, near dam No. 2. I went to the place and secured it before the beavers had an oppor- tunity to finish their work, which another night would probably have consummated, to the destruction of the symmetry of the cutting. The tree is a yellow birch, thirteen and a half inches in diameter below the in- cision, and twelve inches above, with a circumference of something over three feet. As the tree was green, and this part was removed before it had been exposed to the weather, the marks of the teeth are seen with entire distinctness over every part of the cut surface. The width of the incision up and down is eight inches, and it was commenced seven inches above the ground. It is evident that the process of cutting is round and round the tree continuously, and that the reduction is uniform until it is cut on all sides more than half way to the centre. After that, the remainder of the cut- ting varies; in some cases it is uniform until the tree t 172 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. V ' I 1^ falls, while in others it is the deepest on one side, toward which it is then most likely to fall; and from which the inference is drawn, with some degree of probability, that it was the intention of the beavers to fell it in that direction. Where the tree leans slightly, the deepest cutting is on the side opposite to the direction of its fall; and where it stands upon a side hill, it is often, when the tree is small, cut entirely upon the upper side. While gnawing down a tree, they sit up erect on their hind feet, which, being plan- tigrade, renders this posture natural and convenient for the body. Although I have not succeeded in wit- nessing the act, on the part of the beavers, of felling a tree, I have obtained the particulars from Indians and trappers who have. The usual number engaged in the work is but two, or a pair; but they are some- times assisted by two or three young beavers. It thus appears to be the separate work of a family, insteud of the joint work of several families. One tree of the size of this would furnish a sufficient amount of small cuttings for their winter supply. When but two are engaged they work by turns, and alternately stand on the watch, as is the well-known practice of many animals while feeding or at work. Wlien the tree begins to crackle, they desist from cutting, which they afterward continue with cau- tion until it begins to fall, when they plunge into the pond, usually, and wait concealed for a time, as if fearful that the crashing noise of the tree-fall might attract some enemy to the place. The next move- ment is to cut oflf the limbs, such as are from two to five and six inches in diameter, and reduce them to a proper length to be moved to the water and trans- SUBSISTENCE OF BEAVERS. 173 ported thence to the vicinity of their lodges, where they are sunk in a pile as their store of winter pro- visions. Upon this work the whole family engage with the most persevering industry, and follow it up, night after night, until the work is accomplished. The greatest number of beavers ever seen thus en- gaged by any of my informants was nine, while the usual number is much less. These sc lewhat minute particulars are so far important as they tend to show the existence of the family relation, as well as the number of the family; and they also have some bear- ing upon the question of the recognized right of prop- erty in cuttings. A fair consideration of ascertained facts tends to the inference that each family is left to the undisturbed enjoyment of the fruits of their toil and industry. The manner of reducing and remov- ing limbs of trees will be further explained when we take up that class of cuttings. Another and a larger tree cutting of the kind above described, I found the present season (August, 186G), and sent it to the Commissioners of the Central Park, New York. It is a yellow birch, seventeen inches in diameter below the incision, fourteen inches above, and shows a cutting entirely around the tree four and a half inches deep. The incision was not as deep relatively as in the other case; but it removed the whole of the sap-wood and a portion of the duramen. It was cut thus far in the spring of the present year, as the tree was still alive and in full leaf; and with- out doubt for the purpose of eating the chips, as few or none were found at the foot. The second engraving (Fig. 2, Plate XV.) is also from a photograph of an original specimen in my col- 174 THE AMERICA^f BEAVER. J lection. Ah the tree lodged in falling, it did not breaic at the point where it was cut. This tree was also a yellow birch, and stood on the border of Grass Lake, a few rods above the great dam. Since the deepest incision was upon the pond side of the tree, it seemed to have been their intention to fell it into the pond; but their expectations in this respect, if indulged, were disappointed; and further than this, their labor was lost by the lodgment of the tree. It measures seven- teen inches in diameter below the incision, and ten and a half above it, with a circumference at the place where it was made of three feet four inches. The cut was commenced six inches above the ground, and war .welve inches wide up and down the trunk of the tree. This tree cutting was two years old when I brought it away in 1861. It is quite a common prac- tice with beavers to fell trees into ponds and lakes for the purpose of submerging their branches, and thus preserving them, with all their small shoots and twigs, under water, where they may be accessible throughout the winter under the ice. Along the skirts of large ponds, where deciduous trees are found growing, numbers of trees thus fallen into the pond are seen; their conical stubs showing quite plainly by whom they were cut down. I have a second tree cutting precisely similar to this, the parts being un- separated by the fall, measuring sixteen inches in diaraet-er below the incision, thirteen above it, and three feet three inches in circumference at the point where the incision was made. Beavers occasionally cut the wild-cherry tree, al- though it is somewhat doubtful whether they eat its bark. I found one of this description on the tipper SUBSISTENXE OF BEAVERS. 175 part of Cnrp River, the pn'sent Hunimer, which menH- ured eighteen incheH in its grejitest diameter helow the incinion, and fourteen above. They had oom- menced and cut round the tree in two places higiier up, finally completing the work at a third and lower place. It in an interenting specimen for this retuson, although somewhat weather-worn, since it shows the appearance of a tree cutting at different stages of its depth. None of its branches were either cut or re- moved by the beavers. These rings show that the cutting was commenced near the close of winter, in deep snow; and that the deepest and lowest cutting was made after the snows had wasted nearly to the ground. As few chips remained, it was evident that the incision was made for the purpose of eating the wood. This specimen is now in the State Collection at Albany. The foregoing are fair specimens, as to size, of the tree cuttings in the Lake Superior region, and are among the largest of the hard-wood trees usually cut down by the beavers. I have a number of speci- mens of all sizes from six to eighteen inches in diameter, all of which were cut in the same manner, and present the same external marks and conical form at the cut ends. Those described are not un- usually large. I have seen many others of equal size at places inconvenient for removal. One yellow birch at the head of Lake Flora, partly cut down, measured five feet and four inches in circumference below the incision, and four feet and six inches above, with but nine inches in diameter at the centre still uncut. The chips at the foot of a fresh cut tree are quite abundant, as well as objects of curiosity. I have V'' . ) ) 176 THB AMFRICAN UFAVER. an UHHortnu'iit of them, soiiu* of which incnsiiro tliroo und a half inches in k>n^'tii, from an inch to an inch and a half in width, and about a quarter of an inch in thickneos. Fi<}. '.'O. Beaver Chip. Natural iiixe. The above representation (Fig. 20) shows the inner face of one of these chips. Upon the end to the right are six distinct cuts, the first two of which arc but half the width of a single tooth; while on the other, which is the thickest end, there are eight, some of which are, in like manner, but half the width of a single tooth. It is made evident by running the inferior incisive teeth in a beaver's skull over these several cuts, that the upper incisors are used for holding, while the cutting is done by the inferior; and more than this, that but a single tooth is used at a time, the other following in the space made by the previous bite. There is another fact which tends to confirm this explanation of the manner of cutting, which is that the chip is split inward toward the centre with each cut. If both of the inferior incisors were cutting at the same time, the split would occur with each alternate cut; otherwise one of the teeth would be sprung. These chips also show that the gnawing process is one of The crowning surface of splitting as well as cutting. SUBSISTENCE (>K IJHAVKKS. 1 t t tMich cut irt (oiind to fit exnctly the slif^lit ronnivity ii) the iniuT HuK'of tl»o inciNor. It will IxMjbwrvrd fnHii the nlopin^r edges of the chip that each cut |M'netrate(l deeper than the one preceding it an they «everally iiyt- proach the centre, and that the Hplit Hurl'ace in the centre \h Ichh than an inch in length. From the t^en off, after which they were thrown out into the pond, to be again gathered and applied to the purposes named. This is not .always the case with respect to their lodges, some of which I have found covered with a mass of poles of black alder, with the bark on: upon their dams, also, brush and drift-wood are often found; but these cuttings are the usual materials used for repairing both. There is another class of brush cuttings, the prin- cipal object and use of which are involved in some doubt. In streams having considerable volume, which are liable to rise suddenly after rains or thaws, and develop currents more or less strong, a brush-heap (Fig. 21) is almost universally found sunk in the pond ;l| u ■ if il , 186 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. immediately against, or filightly above each lodge. There is a strong current, at such times, in Carp River below dam No. 30, and in the Esconauba below dam No. 13. On the other hand, these brush piles are rarely, if ever, found connected with lodges situated upon the margins of ponds formed by dams across Brush-heap near Lodge. small brooits, or near island lodges in large ponds, or near the lake lodges. In the ponds of the small streams there is little or no current, and none that is perceptible in the small lakes. As a confirm- ation of the supposed relation between these currents and the brush heaps, the latter were found con- nected with all of the lodges on the Carp below the point named, while none were to be seen near the lodges in Grass Lake, nor in the pond at the Long Dam, nor at any of the lake lodges. The same is < M SUBSISTENCE OF BEAVERS. 187 all hat rm- nts ;on- the the liong ie is equally true with reference to the four hwlgeH on the margin of the natural pond hereafter deHcrilx»d. The brush-heap represented in the figure was in front of the lodge at dam No. iU. It was simply a pile of brush, composed of alder bushes and the small branches of deciduous trees, sunk to the bottom of the pond in wJiter about four feet deep, with a portion of the pile rising above the surface. To form these heaps, they tow in the brush to the ploce, piece by piece, and sink it in some way in a well-compacted pile, which after a short time becomes firmly anchored in the mud below. A Missouri trapper informed the author that he had seen beavers, while performing this work, swim to the place towing a piece of brush, and then, holding the large end in their mouths, go down with it to the bottom apparently to fix it in tlie mud-bottom of the pond. An ordinary pile covers an area from ten to fifteen feet in diameter, and rises a few feet above the surface of the water, and contains the substance of half a cord of wood. Both the Indians and the trappers regard these brush-heaps as their winter supply of provisions. Whether the old brush is removed each fall, and its place supplied with fresh, I have not bsen able to ascertain with any certainty, but it is very doubtful. I have seen the same brush piles at the same lodges in different years, on the Carp, the brush itself being old and decayed; but without knowing whether the lodges were still occupied. In any event it would be necessary to replenish the supply at times, to make good the waste by decay. While the brush was fresh they would be certain to use it for food, but whether it is their supply for the winter, is made doubtful by *' 188 THE AMKKK^AN UKAVKR. tho proHoncc (»f short cuttinjijH IcmIj^ciI liore nnrl there ill till' pill'. Haviii<4 in ri'pratcil iiiHtimces moi'Ii and pulled out of these hrush-heapH short cuttin«rs of the kind found in their store piles in the lar<^e ponds and lakes, with the hark still upon them, the fact of their presence sugirested the prohiihility that the principal ohject of these hruah-piles was to afford a safe l«)dg- ment for short cuttings, upon which they nniinly rely. Without some such protection they would he liable to be tloated off by the strong currents, and thus be lost to the beavers at the time when their lives might - K?'^'^ \3 4^ -^^^)l^y. Cn.- \ » •YV.^.^°C^'' '^ V ' - / r /» LCv'^ wide .0, ^fv'S-p r i:r'^-^^/^,.-, ft* '//, 'j.fi:.wLcU. 9inJ)< f J"/ M^t^e ^'^0.'"^6%o,-,.'^. = , r. C, ; ^ .9.f> fCrr^ Hl-J O BEAVER CANAL Noxtk Sidp BEAVER CANALS, MEADOWS, AND TRAILS. lo: smnll Htream. In the third phice, tliey often term- inate in dry hard earth at the foot of the risiiitj; ground. There is not, in the fourth place, the Mliglit- est current in these canals showing that they are fed by springs. In the fifth place, surface water, filtering through grounds substantially level, never could cut such uniform, and, much less, such deep channels. And in the sixth and last place, roots of trees, four inches in diameter, are found cut off and removed to afford an unobstructed channel. In like manner, alder bushes, which branch low, as well as send out strong roots, are found cut off in large numbers where they overhang and line their borders. An inspection and comparison of a number of these canals leave no doubt whatever of their artificial character. The first canal to be described, and which is shown in Plate XVIII., is on the north side of the pond rep- resented in the preceding plate. For the distance of four hundred and fifty feet it is cut through level ground, and filled with water from the pond. There are knolls or hummocks scattered over the surface in which tamarack and spruce trees are rooted; but there is no perceptible ascent until the first dam is reached, when there is a rise of about a foot. The banks of the canal, which are vertical, rise a few inches above the level of tl e water with "'hioh it is filled. Up to this dam it is perfectly evident that the water in the canal is supplied from the pond. Twenty- five feet above there is a second rise of about a foot, and here we find a second dam, extending over seventy- five feet beyond the canal on one side, and twenty- seven on the other. As here used, these dams are exceedingly ingenious. They were designed to receive 196 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. and hold tho surface watcM' from rains, as well as that passed down by drainage from the hi}j;h grounds, after which it was collected by filtration, in the channel of the canal which is sunk about three feet below the level of the surrounding ground. At the distance of forty- seven feet from the second there is a third and much larger dam, one hundred and forty-two feet long, con- structed in a semicircle, with its arms pointing out toward the high ground, and designed for the same object. It collects the surface water in pools, here and there, but fails to form a pond for want of suffi- cient water. With this dam the canal terminates. At this point the hard wood is reached, at the dis- tance of five hundred and twenty-three feet from the pond. A B in the diagram represent a transverse eviction of the first dam, on the line of the canal; and C D, the same of the third. The crests of these dams where they cross the canal are depressed, or worn down, in the centre, by the constant passage of beavers over them while going to and fro, and dragging their cuttings. This canal, with its adjuncts of dams and its manifest objects, is a remarkable work, tran- scending very mueh the ordinary estimates of the in- telligence of the beaver. It served to bring the occu- pants of the pond into easy connection, by water, with the trees that supplied them with food, as well as to relieve them from the tedious, and perhaps impossible, task of moving their cuttings five hundred feet over uneven ground, unassisted by any descent. As an efibrt of free intelligence to surmount natural obstacles, it is one of the highest achievements of this animal. The width and depth of the channel at different points are sufficiently shown upon the ground plan. I ! Plf^teXIX BEAVEK CAUAL South Side. ,/ / BEAVER CANALS, MEADOWS. AND TRAILS. 107 Not the IcjiHt iutcrostimr fact coniu'ctcjl with thi-* canal is that of the great aiiioiint of lahor lU'crMMarv for its oxcavntloM. It inu»t havo rtMjiiirod many vt-ars of j )( BEAVER CANAL, CABP RIVER ♦ # BEAVER CANALS, MEADOWS, AND TRAILS. 201 is still other evidence tending to the same conclusion. Along the canal there are roots from two to four inches in diameter cut o£f at the bank on opposite sides, below the surface of the water, and removed. Alder bushes in great numbers, even when branching across the canal several inches above the ground, are found cut oflF to free the channel from obstructions. Besides these several considerations, the canal term- inates in dry ground; and the intermediate space through which it is carried is of such a character as to preclude the possibility of the formation of such a channel by natural causes. This canal may be regarded as typical of these works. They are usually cut through low, swampy ground where the supply of water is obtained by fil- tration from the adjacent lands, after forming a chan- nel for its reception. With dams at each change of level to prevent the channel from drawing off the water, they can be carried as far as pools of surface water can be found. It is not uncommon to find, at bends in streams, canals cut across the neck, apparently to shorten the distance in going up and down by water. One of this kind has been shown (Plate XIV.) in connection with a lodge. There are a number of these canals within the area of the map, three of the largest of which are shown in sections 4 and 28. The engraving (Plate XXII.) is from a photograph of one on the section last named, and it is introduced to show the beaver mead- ows on the Esconauba as well. It is a view across a bend in this river, showing the stream in the foreground passing by from right to left, and again in the back- ground flowing in the opposite direction. The canal 202 THE AMERICAN BEAVrR. is excavated across the neck, and apptars in the right side of the engraving. It is one hundred and eighty- five feet long, three feet wide, and about fifteen inches deep. When the dam below (No. 14) was in repair and the pond full, it would be about four feet wide ond three feet deep. No other object for these exca- vations can be assigned, except to shorten the distance in going up and down the. iiver. There was no hard wood in its /icinity. Alder bushes were growing on both sides of the canal, which were cut away on one side to show the water within it. The evidence is less conclusive that these excavations are artificial than in the case of the canals before described.' In some cases simi'-ir excavations are made across islands in their ponds, where they are long, for the obvious purpose of sa^'^ing distance in going around. In the Chippewa River, in Lower Michigan, there is a pond, covering several hundred acres of land, formed by a beaver dam, in which there is u low island of firm earth nearly a mile in length Across this island there are two such canais about five hundred feet long, exca- vated by the beavers for the purpose of a water transit over the island. They were described to me, with their dimensions, by the Rev. Mr. Johnson, for many ' The Ojibwas discriminate this variety' of cannl from the other, and call it o-ne-ge'-gome (from nee-geek', utter), signifyitr;^ "otter crossing," from the use the otter is known to make ui" them. The otter is a "gay and festive" animal. He doe^ not slide down hill upon the frozen snow after the fashion of the Polar bears described by Dr. Kane; but, coiling him&elf up in the form of a hoop, with his tail in his mouth, he will roll down a hill upon the snow-crust with great velocity. Father De Sniet, be- fore referred to. witnessed this performj,nce of an otter in Wash- ington Tenitory. to > < 0 V: a- P- > . ^1 Jii: Ifiiir L.n 'olar Form hill be- 'ash- '^■:^ •j T.. Mbt BEAVER CANALS, MEADOWS, AND TRAILS. 203 years a inisHionary among the Ojibwa Indians, who went upon the ishind and examined them. Beaver excavations on a hirge scale are very common in dis- tricts favorable for their occupation, and they are greatly diversified in character. At the upper end of the principal pond at the gorge, where the series of dams are found, there is a canal two hundred and fifty feet long, which enters the pond where it is too shallow for a beaver to swim below the surface of the water. To correct this inconvenience a channel was excavated in the bed of the pond for about fifty feet in length, the materials from which were thrown up on either side. Beaver meadows are properly among the works of the beavers, although consequences, merely, of their labor for other objects. Wliere dams are constructed, 'ohe waters first destroy the timber within the area cov- ered by the ponds. When the adjacent lands are low, thyy are occasionally overflown after heavy rains, and a.i\i at all times saturated with water from the ponds. In course of time, the trees within the area affected are totally destroyed; in place of which a rank, lux- uriant grass springs up. A level meadow, iu the strict and proper sense of the terra, is thus formed; although much unlike the meadow of the ''^■-. ated farm. At a distance they appear to ^c level and smooth; but when you attempt to walk over them, they are found to be a series of hummocks formed of earth and a mass of coarse roots of grass rising about a foot high, while around each of them there is a narrow strip of bare and sunken ground. The bare spaces, which are but a few inches wide, have the appearance of innumerable water-courses through \'t 204 TIIK AMKFMrAN HEAVFR. which the wiitcr j)iiss<'h when tho incii'lou's iirc ovcr- llowt'd. A huiivcr incadnw, thcrclbre, may hv likcnt'd to tht' f'aco of a walllc-iion — tho raised ciniiK'niM's of wliicli represent th»' hiiiniiiockH of jrni.ss, and the iii- doiitatioHH tho di'pivssions around thoin lor tlio pas- Hago of water. In IMates IX. and XXII,. which are oiigravei] from photografjlis, a small portion of tiic beaver meadows are shown. Tho amount of lands in a heaver district thus turned into meadowB is large, when the conditions under wliich they are produced are considered. On the Car{) and Esconauba Rivers, within the area of tlie ma|), there are about ninety acres, in the aggre- gate, of beaver meadows; the situation and bound- aries of which are indicated by dotted lines. There are other districts, particularly on the main branch of the Esconauba, where the amount is much larger. These meadows are very common in the vicinity of beaver dams. When inm mining operations were first commenced in the Lake Superior region, the grass upon these meadows was the main reliance of the miners for hay for their winter stock. In 1865, Captain Johnson, superintendent of tho Lake Supe- rior Mine, cut fifty tons of hay upon a single beaver meadow on the main branch of the Esconauba. In addition to the nutriment which the roots of those grasses afford to the beavers, the meadows them- selves are clearings in the wilderness, by means of which the light, as well as the heat of the sun, is lot in upon their lodges. Beaver trails are quite numerous, as well as con- spicuous, along the margins of their ponds. They show their run-ways back into the woods, and the > m "—I '■ a >| w C/3 pi ■ > ■• H ■ < «iH ■ ^ \M 1 ^f 1 1 C/1 if ■ r 'W ■ ■"^ 1 'Ifltl 1 a liu 1 f1 .' f^ 1 C/3 jl IB BEAVER CANALS, MEADOWS, AND TRAILS. 205 lines on which they move their cuttings into the ponds. They are narrow, well-beaten paths for a short distance from the ponds, but soon lose their dis- tinctness and disappear altogether. They are chiefly interesting as indications of their numbers, and of the long periods of time each dam has been main- tained, and each pond inhabited. On the Upper Missouri we meet with another form of trail, which is called a "beaver slide." It is de- signed to maintain, as well as afford, a ready connec- tion between the river and its banks. On both sides of this river, for miles together, the banks are vertical, and rise, at ordinary stages of the water, from three to eight feet above its surface. It would, consequently, be impossible for the beavers to get out of the river upon the land except by excavating a passage way through the bank, from the river to the surface, or by the construction of the inclined or graded way, known as a " beaver slide." The latter expedient was adopted and made the ordinary run-way to and from the river, and the bottom lands upon its border. They are sim- ple excavations in the bank, in the form of a narrow passage-way, inclined at an angle varying from 45° to 60°, so as to form a gradual descent from a point a few feet back of the edge of the bank to the level of the river. Several of them are often seen in the bank, within ten feet of each other, as shown in the Plate. (Plate XXIII.)* They are first seen near the ' In the foreground in this engraving is shown the " Bull Boat" of the Upper Missouri, used bj the Mandans, MInnitares, Crows, and Blackfeet, for crossing the river. It is made of a single raw hide of a buffalo, unbaired and stretched over a dome-shaped frame of splints. It is safe, convenient, and portable ; and it will carry two persons. t Jit I I'll : ii 206 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. mouth of the Big Sioux River, from which point to the mountains they are observed in great numbers, in places where beavers are most numerous. They fur- nish another conspicuous illustration of the fact that they possess a free intelligence, by means of which they are enabled to adapt themselves to the circum- stances in which they are placed. This great river, which has been so frequently re- ferred to in these pages, presents to the tourist many striking features. I am tempted to make a digression for the purpose of noticing a few of them. It runs for three thousand miles through the great central prairie area of the continent without being inter- rupted by a waterfall, or traversed by a mount- ain chain. It is a great river Irom its mouth to the Falls of the Missouri, which are within th ^ Rocky Mountain chain ; and it is navignble at certain seasons by steamei's of the first class, within forty miles of the falls. In width it varies from a mile and a half to a third of a mile, rarely contracting its channel within a quarter of a mile when its banks are full. Its cur- rent, which i'j rated by river men at from four to five miles per hour, exceeds, in rapidity, that of any other navigable river within the United States. By means of its powerful current it is able to hold in suspension the great amount of earthy materials that impart to its waters their deep yellowish color. From this cir- cumstance, also, it derived its aboriginal name, Ne- sTid-ja, which, in the dialect of the Kaws, signifies "the muddy river."* * "With reference to the range of the Missouri between low and high water, but little can be said. It is about thirty>fi . e feet at the mouth ; twenty feet at St. Joseph's, Missouri ; and still BEAVER CANALS, MEADOWS, AND TRAILS. 207 to cir- Ner lifies Its "bluffs" testify to the long series of centuries during which this river has flowed from the mountains to the sea, and measure the enormous amount of solid materials which it has transported to the Mississippi and thence to the Gulf For the first thousand miles these bluffs are, upon an average, upwards of four miles apart; for the second thousand, upwards of three miles; and for the remainder of the distance to the falls, upwards of one. They bound the valley ex- cavated by the river, and mark the limital range of its flow. The tops of the bluffs, which are on a level with the prairies, are from fifty to one hundred and fifty feet above the level of the river, from its mouth to the confluence of the Yellowstone ; while above the latter point they rise three hundred feet high and upwards for miles together. The lands between the bluffs are level, rising but a few feet above the river, and are called "Bottom less above, being at Fort Berton only about six feet. Ice dams in the spring sometimes occasion great local rises. " Its high water width, for so long a river, is remarkably uni- form. In the vicinity of Fort Benton it varies from five hundred to one thousand feet. Near the mouth of Milk River it has in- creased to fifteen hundred feet. Below the Yellowstone it is about two thousand feet. From ^hio vicinity the river gradually attains an average width of about three thousand feet, which it holds for some six hundred miles to its mouth. " Its annual disc large is about four trillions of cubic feet, or about one-fifth of that of the Mississippi. "At Fort Benton it is two thousand eight hundred and forty- five feet above the Gulf, and at its mouth, three hundred and cighty-ono feet." — Phynics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River. Published by the War Department, 1861, p. 61. The June rise of the Yellowstone is about ten days in reaching St. Louis, or in moving a little over two thousand miles. 208 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. Lands." It is a striking fact with reference to these lands, that they have been literally made by the river to the depth of its channel from bluff to bluff; and that they are still undergoing the process of being cut away and reformed with each successive flood. Al- though the river to-day cuts against one of its blu£&, while the opposite one may be four miles distant, the time has been when it also impinged on the oiher, — having removed in its course all the intermediate soil to the depth of its channel. As it cuts away on one side, it throws up materials on its receding bed in the form of a sand-bar, which is afterward raised by the slow piocess of suri'ace deposits by successive floods to the common level of the bottom lands. With every change of level in the river it shifts its channel more or less, as the direction and force of the pressure upon its banks change with the rise and fall of the stream. The rapidity with which this river, when in flood, cuts away its banks, which it is seen are sedi- mentary, is quite remarkable. It is not uncommon for a farmer on the Lower Missouri to lose forty acres of his farm in the bottom lands in a single night. At such times there is a constant splash of earth falling into the river, carrying with it the tallest cottonwood- trees, whose age measured the interval since the river, cutting its way in the opposite direction, had cast up the sand-bar upon which they afterward took root. I have seen trees falling in, one after another, while still others in a leaning position were just ready to follow. The mud deposited on their foliage soon brings them to anchor, after which they are stripped, in course of time, of both limbs and bark; and thus, with one end imbedded in mud and the other rising toward the sur- BEAVER CANALS, MEADOWS, AND TRAILS. 209 of end sur- face of the water and pointing down stream, become the "snags" which have made this river famous for its steamboat disasters. The river banks are usually from five to eight feet high when the channel is full, and always vertical. Any person falling into this river, in time of Hood, is pretty certain to be drowned, unlen 9 can reach a sand-bar, or the side opposite the one against which the current is running.* From the mouth of the Missouri to Kansas City, there is a belt of forest on both sides of the river sev- eral miles wide; but above this point the belt con- tracts rapidly in width, the prairie coming occasion- ally to the bluffs, as at Fort Leavenworth and at Omaha. Above the last-named place the forest con- tinues to decrease to the confluence of the Big Sioux River, after which, for the remainder of the distance of about two thousand miles to the mountains, it is confined to the bottom lands and the declivities of the blujQfs. All without is open prairie, with the excep- tion of narrow belts of forest along the margins of the tributary streams. For the last fifteen hundred miles the bottom lands are but partially wooded ; and * Where the channel is narrow and the current swift and full, the most powerful swimmer is unable to keep himself above the surface of the water, its whirling and eddying motions tending to draw him under. In 1862, 1 saw five men drown at mid-day in this river just below Fort lienton, which is but thirty-six miles below the Falls of the Missoiiri. Six men were capsized in a rapid in a small boat, and were one after the other soon drawn under. Of these, four came to the surface once, and again went under ; three came up a second time, and one a third. He alone was saved, by means of a small boat, which went to their relief within two minutes of the accident. U 210 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. the country, in other respects, is unfavorable for set- tlement. The scenery upon the Mis niri is monotonous un- til the confluence of the Ye?<' wstone is approached. This is owing to the fact that at the river level we are shut in from the magnificent summer landscape of the prairies, of which the eye never wearies; and are confined to the narrow range of the bottom lands and bordering bluffs, which have few attractive feat- ures. One of the most remarkable regions of the eaith is thus traversed without being seen. From the old vilii\ge of the Mandans, and particularly above the Great Bend of the Missouri, the scenery changes and assume? more imposing forms. First there are high banks of indurated clay, seamed with lignite, which rise three hundred feet high and assume gro- tesque architectural forms from the effects of rain and frost. These, with more or less uniformity in appear- ance, border the river for five hundred miles until the Bad Lands are entered, which, commencing about fifty miles above the confluence of Milk River, continue for upwards of three hundred miles. The "Bad Lands" (mauvaises terres), so called, are sterile, rounded mud hills, of a dingy-brown color, thickly studded together, and rising, with deep chasms between, two hundred or more leet high. They are composed of adhesive clay, which, softening to a considerable depth under every rain, are destitute of every species of vegetation ex- cept an occasional sage-tree or dwarf cedar, and a straggling cactus. This assemblage of conical hills presents the most dreary landscape within the limits of our Republic, the deserts of the Colorado Basin not excepted. Silence and desolation reign throughout BEAVER CANALS, MEADOWS, AND TRAILS. 211 a- d. ve pe nd ids ;afc- the the »ove ages 1 are nite, gro- L and pear- ilthe t fifty uefor ands" mud ether, red or clay, every ion ex- and a hills 3 limits isin not )Ughout il their area. They form a narrow belt along this por- tion of the Missouri, from which they stretch south- ward across the Yellowstone, and terminate in the Black Hills in the central part of Nebraska. About one hundred miles from the foot of the Rocky Mountains we find the most remarkable forma- tion upon the river, and the most striking scenery upon its borders. Lewis and Clark, who passed through this region in 1805, called this formation the "White Walls" — a not inapt designation. Prince Maximilian^ in his "Travels in North America," also describes them; but any description, however minute, must fail to convey more than a faint gemiral impres- sion of their actual appearance. They are continuous for about forty miles, first appearing as the north bluflF of the river, then upon both sides, and afterward on the north side alone. The river cuts through the formation, which Is a whitish friable sandstone, so slightly cemented that small pieces are readily pul- verized with the fingers, and yet it retains the form of solid rock. Its opposite bluffs here approach within half a mile of each other; and rising about two hun- dred feet high, are buried but a few feet below the level surface of the prairie. The extraordinary ap- pearances of these "walls" are the effects, in a great measure, of frost and rain, which, having disinte- grated portions of the rock, have wrought out the marvelous results presented to the eye. A steep bank first rises from the river, which is composed of the comminuted materials of this rock, colored a dingy brown by washings from the soil above. This, ascend- ing about a hundred and fifty feet, at an angle of 60° or more, is destitute of vegetation, and has a smooth, 212 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. uniform surface. Out of this bank riHes the "White Walls" in perpendicular cliffs from fifty to seventy feet high. In some places, masses of this rock abut against the facf )f the * ^utf; in other places, detached masses i '-e e\^..c^ u,- c \ and sometimtd on three sides; and in till 't!'. places, solitary walls, in the form of masonry, re in * nendous magnitude. Ra- vines here and there breaK t.irough the formation at right angles with the river, exposing two and some- times three sides of a great square; while in other places there are wide openings in the rock, more or less parallel, which assume somewhat the appearance of great streets. To complete the illusion, there are, rents in some of the narrow walls having the sem- blance of gateways, doors, and windows. The effects of atmospheric causes in disintegrating this unequally cemented sandstone have been extremely curious, giv- ing rise to every conceivable form. Buttresses, tur- rets, pinnacles, and spires meet the eye on every side, together with massive walls, rent and perforated, and standing like piles of masonry. In the distance the effect is truly imposing, suggesting very naturally the presence of great cities in ruins. Some of the detached masses have been christened by tourists, among which are the "Castle," the "Cathe- dral," and the "Steamboat." The last is a huge pile of whitish rock, exposed on three sides for about five hundred or more feet, and, rising about sixty feet in height, pre^jents the general form of a Missouri steamer, with its saloon deck, smoke-stacks, and pilot- house traced in dim outline. In addition to the white sandstone, of which nine- tenths of this formation is composed, there is another BEAYEk CANALS, MEADOWS, AND TRAILS. 213 jtened Jathe- ;e pile about ty feet Missouri pilot- nine- Lnotber itone of a eJd'sh-brown color, uie nature of which I was i.jt able to ascertain, wliich asHumes not less re- markable forms. It crops out in the form of narrow, long, ind low stone walls, with horizontal lines of strat- ification or seams distinctly visible; and vertical rents here and there, from top to bottom, which give to it the appearance of dry stone walls. In some places, gfitewa} s through ^hem, formed with the most perfect regularity, are seen. These brown-stone walls run parallel with the river in some places, and in others diagonally up its banks.' In Arabia Petrroa there is a white wall formation very similar to the one here imperfectly described. Iii future years, when the Upper Missouri region becomes more accessible, a summer expedition to the "white walls" will abundantly reward the tourist. This river is also celebrated for its game. All of the principal animals of the North American Continent are found upon its banks. The buffalo, elk, red and black-tailed deer, antelope, grizzly and black bear, *■ Lieutenant Grover, after first referring to the "white walls," speaks of this brown rock as volcanic. " The bluffs," he remarks, "are now more abrupt, and crowded the river; colonnades and odd detached pillars of partially cemented sand, capped with huge globes of light brownish sandstone, tower up from their steep sides to the height of a hundred feet or more abow the water. Then the action of the weather upon the bluffs in the background has worn them into a thousand grotesque forms, while lower down their faces seams of volcanic rock from three to six feet thick, with a dip nearly .ertical, and no uniform strike, beaten nnd cracked by the weather, rising from six to eight feet above the surface, run up and down the steep faces and projecting shoulders of the cliff — a most perfect imitation of dry stone walls." — Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River, p. 58. i'*^t 214 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. beaver, and the gray wolf are seen from the mouth of Cannon-ball River, where game first becomes abund- ant, through all the intermediate region to the mount- ains, with the exception of the Bad Lands. Buffaloes are the most numerous, and are often seen in herds of several thousands. They are easily shot from the deck of a steamboat, while swimming across the river. However eager a }3eraon may be for buf- falo-shooting, he will find it in riuch ample measure on this river that he will finally put aside his gun from mere weariness.' The grizzly bear is the great animal of North Amer- ica, not excepting the buffalo or the moose. We first saw this monster among the "white walls," galloping along the sloping banks beneath them. His bulky and powerful form gave him a dangerous as well as commanding appearance. Among the lesser animals upon this river is the prairie dog, a rodent resembling the squirrel. We stopped at one of their "villages," as a collection of their burrows is familiarly called, and were not a little surprised at the number and spread of their habitations. The antelope is the most beautiful animal of the plains. We often saw them in small herds of one or * When the 6rst pair of buffaloes had been shot and taken on board the steanaer, at the time I went up the river, the mate called upon the trappers on board for volunteers to dress the animals. Two men stepped forward, one of them a Frenchman, as might have been expected, but the other, strange to say, was a Greek, born at Athens, as he afterward informed me. For two years he had been pursuing the vocation of a trapper in the Rocky Mount- ains. He found his way to New Orleans in a merchant vessel, and thence went to the mountains as an adventurer. BEAVER CANALS, MEADOWS, AND TRAILS. 215 ihoi und- juntr seen shot icross p buf- ire on I from Amer- iTe first Uopitig I bulky well as p is the 1. We ction of not a of their a.1 of the )f one or d taken on mate called le animals, n, as might as a Greek, ^vo years he )cky Moxint- hant vessel, two hundred. Their tiesli, upon which we oocusion- ally fuivsted, is superior to that of the elk or the buf- falo. Elks were frequently seen in small herds of twenty or thirty. Another characteristic animal of the Upper Mis- souri is the mountain sheep. They were formerly found as low down as tho conHuence of Cannon-ball River, but nov they are rarely seen below the Bad Lands. We first saw them among the "white walls," in Hocks of from ten to twenty. They are of a brown color, somewhat larger than the common sheep, and of tim- orous dispoflition. Along the faces of the steepest cliffs, where the slightest footing can be had, thoy run with assurance and rapidity, working their way up through places apparently impassable. Fio. 22. Trails of Mountain Sheep on Bluffs near conilueuce of Muscle bla-U Uiver. Above the "white walls," where the bluffs rise in places three hundred feet high, the footprints or trails of the mountain sheep are very frequently seen on their steep declivities. A representation of these trails is given in the figure (Fig. 22). The banks rise pre- cipitously, apparently at an angle of 70° or 80°, with a smooth surface and devoid of vegetation. No animal found in the region, except the mountain sheep, could either ascend or move in a horizontal line upon such bluflfs and maintain his footing. These footprints 216 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. I api)ear to be a HerieH of nltcrnating footholdH nunk in the bank by long use, rather than continuouH depres- sionw in tlie form of a Hunken trail. Their lines alon<]; the bluflrt can be seei. oh distinctly in the clear atmos- phere of this region, for a quarter of a mile, as a chalk line upon a black-board immediately before the eyes. The preceding diagram, in two sections, is from a rough sketcli made while we were passing the bluffs at the distance of a few hundred feet. It seems probable that tlie mountain sheep resort to these precipitous banks for safety as well as rest, since while upon their dizzy declivities they could enjoy the consciousness of perfect security.' From this long digression I return once more to the beaver, to make a brief reference to the connection of the great river systems of North America with the spread of this animal. The true habitat of the beaver is near the sources of streams, where they are small and easily spanned with dams. This transfers them to the mountain and elevated areas as their appropr*. ate home. And yet, as they are migrating animals, ' The least reputable animal of the Missourj rs the gray wolf, the largest of his genus in North America, and the most insatiable of the carnivorous genera. They are very numerous, following the buffalo in their migrations, and preying upon their young as well as upon the wounded and decrepid. The wariness of the wolf was well illustrated to us, one day, by his manner of drinking. Wo saw one jump down the bank of the river, which was about five feet high, upon a piece of fallen earth just above the water, and lap the water for about five seconds, and then jump up again upon the bank to see whether any one was approaching. After this ho returned and drank again for the same length of time, and again ascended the bank to repeat his observation. These proceedings were repeated six or eight times before his thirst was satisfied. BEAVER CANALS, MEADOWS, AND TRAILS. 217 they have but to surrender themselves to tho current of the rivers, the Missouri for example, to [)roi)agrtte themselves over u large part of the United States. With this river, and commencing at its source, they could reach, in time, every part of the area between the Alleghany and the Rocky Mountains: and in like manner with the Siskatchewun, commencing their spread from the same mountains, they could reach the chain of lakes, the St. Lawrence, and all their tribu- taries upon a line of thousands of miles. Tiio wide habitat of the beaver is thus explained by his aquatic habits and the remarkable connection of the river systems of the continent. CHAPTER VIII. JilODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. Other Habits of the Beaver — Indications of Age — Tame Benvers — Nursed by Indian Women — Building and Repairing Dams — Oreat Beaver Dis- tricts— Hudson's Bay Company — American Fur Company — Private Ad- venturers— The Steel Trap — Trapping Season — Trapping at the Dam — At the Lodge — Traps sprung — Whether the Beaver when caught bites off his Leg — Trapping under the Ice — Catching in a Pen — Trapping Bank Beavers — Catching in Burrows — Trappers as a Class — Custom of hang- ing up Skulls — Statistics of Fur Trade — Early and Recent Exportations — Immense Numbers of Beavers. Before taking up the subject of trapping, there are u few remaining facts relating to the habits of the beaver which it may be well to embody in a general statement. His personal acts, as far as they can be ascertained, are not less essential to the completeness of his natural history than his works, or his anatomi- cal structure. Our knowledge of these acts, although more ample than in relation to most animals, is still very limited; wherefore each additional item must be considered in the light of a substantial gain. Some of the facts about to be stated are upon the au- thority of the Missouri and Lake Superior trappers, others were obtained from Indian sources, and the re- mainder were derived from personal observation. The beaver, in moving, never steps backward, but turns round, as his tail drags on the ground. While walking, his back arches slightly; when standing still, its curvature is much increased. In running, his (218) MODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 219 quickest movement is by a gallop, or a series of jumps, which take him along, notwithstanding his clumsy frame, at a rapid rate. When swimming with a part of his head out of water, the tail is extended motionless behind; but when he is entirely under, and swimming at the most rapid rate, it is swung from side to side with a peculiar diagonal stroke; that is, it is raised in a partly vertical position, and then moved upward and to the side, when the relative position of the edges of the tail are re- versed, and it is swung in the opposite direction. It is the precise movement by which a boat is sculled with an oar. I have not seen this tail movement, but make the statement upon the authority of Indians by whom it has frequently been observed. By means of his tail used as a scull, and his webbed hind feet, the propelling power of the beaver in swimming is very great. They carry small stones and earth with their paws, holding them under the throat, and walking on their hind feet. Large stones, weighing five or six pounds, of which size they are found on dams, they push along in diflFerent ways — with the shoulder, with the hip, and with the tail. They work the tail under a stone, and give it a throw forward. In moving ma- terials of various kinds they are very ingenious and persevering. It is said by the trappers, with how much of truth I cannot affirm, that they will place earth and sod upon each other's backs and tails, to be thus tranf ferred to the dam. They handle a stick with their paws as dextrously as a man would with his hands, turning it at pleasure while cutting it in two or eating off the bark. Taking one end of a short cutting in their teeth, and rising up on their 220 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. iiii hind feet so as to bring it across their back, they will carry it, with the opposite end dragging on the ground, for a considerable distance, walking nearly erect on their hind feet. Their tracks in the snow are often seen, with the marks of a bush or limb by their side, showing that it was held in the mouth and passed across the shoulder, the ends dragging on the snow upon the side opposite to that on which it was held. They have also been seen swimming in their ponds, carrying small branches in the same manner. In cutting down trees, they either sit or stand upon their hind legs, and placing their fore feet against the tree, gnaw round and round, making the first incision about three inches wide and an inch deep, and each successive one wider and deeper until the tree falls. I have found these trees in all stages of their progress in cutting. Three beavers have been seen at work together gnawing at the same tree, which is as many as could conveniently find a place. With this num- ber, two nights at most would give ample time to fell a tree a foot in diameter. After the tree falls, they retire for a short time, until the woods are again still, when the whole family come out and commence cut- ting oflf and reducing the limbs to short lengths to be carried to the pond, and thence to the winter pile. A small portion only of the limbs of a large tree ar? used. They select such as are most convenient for cutting and removing, or are preferred for other reasons. Small trees, a few inches in diameter, are removed bodily. The number of trees of different Rizes cut down each season in a well stocked beaver district is surprisingly great. In places they obstruct the passage through the woods, although his occurs itfODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 221 infrequently. While the surveys on the Marquette and Ontonagon Railroad were progressing, a small party encamped upon the main branch of the Eaconauba, near its source, counted nineteen treefalls, which they heard in a single night, between the hours of seven and twelve o'clock. Along the margins of streams inhabited by beavers, the stubs of trees cut down by them are very numerous. They are met at almost every step. This might be expected, since a number of years are required to obliterate the evidences of their work. Many trees partially cut and abandoned are also found, as well as many that have lodged in falling. The usual number of beavers in a litter, as else- where stated, is from three to five, but it is occasion- ally greater. William Bass, before mentioned, found eight young beavers in a foetal state in one female, and eight young beavers born alive in a single lodge. He had also found six young ones a number of times, and all the numbers below this down to a single young beaver. With reference to tho duration of their lives it is difficult to ascertain any facts tending to establish its limit. There are no indications to be found on their teeth by which their age can bf; de- termined; but their tails grow stout with age, and become grayish or light colored on the under hide. Their teeth file down and lose their sharpness, and they become lean and their flpsh tough as they grow old; but these are relative indications only. Bass in- formed me that he once caught a pait of a beaver's foot in a trap, taking four of the five claws; and that eight years afterward he caught a beaver in the same trap- ping district with the corresponding foot mutilated in 222 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. a manner so exactly agreeing with it that he felt per- suaded it was the same beaver. This would have made him not less than eleven years old. He had also seen others apparently several years older than this. From such imperfect data as they possess, the Indians believe he Mwm from hrehre to fifteen years. Young beavers are easily domesticated; and al- though active and mischievous, they are affectionate and harmless. When captured very young, the In- dian women, if they desire their preservation, nurse them until they are old enough to feed upon bark. At six weeks of age, a young beaver will wean itself and take to bark. When brought up in an Indian family they become very much attached to all its members, and are entirely contented in their domesticated con- dition. A Missouri trapper mentioned to me the cir- cumstance of a young beaver captured by his partner, and nursed by the wife of the latter, who was an In- dian woman, that followed them on their trapping rounds, wherever they went, for several successive years. They shifted their camp frequently, and moved long distances, always taking the beaver with them as one of the family. When they commenced breaking up their camp he understood the movement immediately, and showed, by unmistakable signs, his desire to accompany them. After securing two packs upon a horse, he was placed on top, between them, which was his usual place, and rode for miles, from c.irer> to ;;\mp, on many different occasions. When- evei thpy stopped, he fed himself upon bark, but he v/oaicl « a-- Ay-Ar food v well. He soon manifested a gi'eti. pufssioii for sugar, and whenever it was shown 1 nim he was extrei lely troublesome until his desire MODE OP TRAPPING BEAVER. 223 was gratified. He was particularly attached to the half-blood boy with whom he was nursed and grew up — following him on all occasions wherever he went. He was also a great favorite in the camp of the trap- pers, as the care taken of him sufficiently shows. Beavers are often seen sunning themselves on the bank of a stream, lying side by side, but head and tail: their relative positions seeming to indicate a double degree of watchfulness. When they come out of the water and intend to rest, they first dry or drip themselves; after which they comb the hair about their heads with their paws, and with tl^e extra claws on the hind feet they comb each side of their bodies alternately. Occasionally they indulge themselves at play, for which a formal preparation is made. After selecting a suitable place upon dry ground near the pond or stream, they void their cas- toreum here and there upon the grass, and, in the musky atmosphere thus created, spend some hours at play or basking in the sun.* The trappers call these pliiy-grounds "Musk Bogs." Two or three of thent are often seen at play in the water — diving, swin ming around, and ducking each other. In building a dam in deep water they common, c with brush, preferring alder, from the small amount jf its foliage, which they cut on the adjoining banks. . d move by water, holding it by their teeth, to the ]-,ace selected. The brush is arranged in parallel courses, as near as may be, lengthwise with the flow of the * The castorcum sacs are inclosed in muscular cavities, so that a portion of their contents can probably be voided at the pleaeurt- of the animal. I 1 ' 224 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. stream, and with the large ends facing the current. It is begun literally at the surface of the water, and the first courses are sunk to the bottom by successive deposits upon them. I have seen such dams when first commenced, and when the brush filled but a small ijart of the channel. At first the brush makes a loose dam, through which the water flows without sensible obstruction; but when the materiak, by their increase in quantity, begin to check the flow of the water and to experi- ence, in consequence an increase of pressure, they commence carrying in and " depositing upon them earth, sods, and stoues^ for down-weight to anchor them, as well as to fill up the interstices. The first season the beavers conteiit themselves with a low dam, rising about a foot above the original level of the water, and afterward raise it from year to year until it reaches its natural limitations. In this manner the small dams on the main branch of the Esconauba, near its sources, were constructed. For several miles this stream passes through comparatively level land, with a channel about thirty feet wide and from one to two feet deep, and with defined banks about three feet high. Dams are found at short intervals upon its entire course, and also upon its small tributaries; but those upon the former are short, low, and inferior struc- tures. Beaver meadows border this river continu- ously for miles. As places of concealment, they are equivalent to thousands of burrows. These meadows show of themselves how completely the stream has been appropriated, in past times, for beaver habitation. The persevering industry of beavers in repairing their dams is well established. Mcny successive MODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 225 breaches must be made in these structures before they abandon the work of their restoration; and even after deserting the place, either they or other beavers are sure to return when circumstances become favorable. The instances are rare in which they are seen, for any length of time, while engaged upon this work. Captain Daniel Wilson informed me that he had seen beavers at work on the Grass Lake dam, making ordinary repairs, on several different occasions, while watching at night for deer, in one of the trees grow- ing in its crest. They came down to the dam singly, and swam along its line from one end to the other. When any work seemed to be needed, each one, upon his own motion and without any concert witl otittrs, devoted himself to the task of setting it right. They brought sticks in their mouths, and mud with their paws held under the throat. When these were ar- ranged ami the mud deposited upon them, they gave the latter a heavy stroke with the tail to pack it firmly in its place. Four or five beavers came down each night, at intervals of half an hour apart; each and all of whom performed more or less work upon the dam, and did it in the same manner. One night, while I was watching upon the same dam, the first beaver made his ajppearance isbout eleven o'clock, and swam across the p8umcd. While these companies have prosecuted their operur tions u|)on a vast scale, they have by no means en- joyed a monopoly of the business. Private adven- turers in large numbers have engaged in trapping, and followed it year after year as a regular pursuit. Our Indian nations, also, whose territories produce fur- bearing animals, trap more or less for the means of subsistence. Within our national limits there are hundreds, and even thousands of men, who now make trapping their exclusive business. As success in trapping depends very much, as before remarked, upon the knowK'dge the trapper has of the habits and mode of life of the several animals he seeks to capture, an examination of the methods resorted to in trapping beavers will develop some of the habits of this animal not before introduced. It is for this reason exclusively that the subject will be considered. Fio. 28. Newhouse's Trap. The steel trap came into use when the systematic pursuit of the fur-bearing animals commenced. Its form is well known. The most perfect instrument. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-S) 1.0 I.I ■ 2.2 m m US us u 140 2.0 m i M III— llll''^ 1'-^ ^ 6" ► "1 PhotografJiic Sciences Corporation M ^ <^ ' V 23 WIST MAIN STRUT WIBSTIR,N.Y. MStO (716) 172-4503 ^^ ^\ '^oN 4S> 230 THE AMEBICAN BEAVEB. i! however, is of recent introduction, and is known 849 the "Newhouse Trap," of which the foregoing cut is a representation. The jaws are smooth, and spread six inches and a half, of the size best adapted for taking beavers. Its chief merits, as an improvement upon the old form, are said to consist in such an adjustment of the form of the jaws, and of the bow of the spring to each other, and the further adaptation of the power of the spring to both, as to secure in the highest degree the two qualities of a good catcher and a sure holder. These traps are used without bait, and operate on the principle of an inadvertent tread upon the pan. The trapping season commences about the first of November and ends about the first of April, during which period the different fur-bearing animals are in the best condition with respect to their fur. But it is pursued more or less at all seasons of the year, by persons who are more reckless of the waste of animal life than the regular trappers. In the spring, summer, and fall, the usual place of setting traps for beavers is upon the dam. The trapper avails himself of the well-known habit of this dam builder to repair at once any breach made in the structure, over which his su- pervision is constant. He therefore makes one or more openings in the crest of the dam, four or five inches deep, and sets a trap in the pond at each one, about a foot back of the breach and a few inches below the surface of the water. By means of a chain the trap is then secured to a stake driven into the bed of the pond, about four feet back of the trap and out in the pond, where the water is of some depth. When a beaver ascertains that the level of his pond is subsiding, which I "! !!»■ MODE OF TRAPPING BEATER. 231 is shown by the fall of the water in the lodge entrances, he goes to the dam, after night has set in, and com- mences its repair. While thus engaged, he is in constant danger of springing the trap by stepping on its pan inadvertently. If taken by either of the fore feet, he is very apt to break the bones in turning around the trap, thus freeing himself; but if caught by either hind leg, his case is hopeless. He immediately plunges into the deep water of the pond, where his course is soon arrested by the stake and chain. It is a part of the trapper's merciless plan to drown the animal, for the double purpose of preventing him from breaking away and of saving his body under water, where it will be inaccessible to beasts of prey. To accomplish this end, two contrivances are resorted to, of which the most simple is an extra stake set a short distance beyond the first, around which the beaver is quite cer- tain to coil the chain, and thus drown himself, in his attempts to escape; and the other is the pole-slide. A dry pole, ten or twelve feet long, with a prong at one end to prevent the ring of the chain from slipping off, is secured to the bank or dam by a hook driven down into the ground near the trap. The small end of the pole — the ring being run up to the large end near the hook — is then immersed in the pond as far out as it will reach. When a beaver is caught, he dives and swims in the direction to which the pole leads, the ring sliding down to the end. In the deep water thus reached, the weight of the chain and trap, by which his motions are embarrassed, prevents his rising to the surface, and he is soon an unresisting victim of the trapper 8 art. Captain Wilson, before referred to, on one occasion 232 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. ^« thp Grass Lake «,t three traps ».«r H-X H->*' ^^^ ''"' dam, »ing »take. .n.^^ o i^^^V^^^ ^^ ^^„„,. foUowing results. Two d y^ j^„y „^ going to the traps, *« «"^ ^ „ beaver, and both |„o of the traps ^^^^ ^he calamity that drowned; bat "-'"'^f^tvL had finished their b,d befallen ^T'^^'J ^ared from sight work. The third t™P *"^ j^ b^%be stake, which He foand the *-"» f ^' \tat the trap was buried .bowed, on running t up, t ^^^ ^^j^„,, i„ the breach r"**/! drawing it out, he discovered used in its repair Upon dmwing ^^^^^^^ a duck in the trap, wh ch t. ^^^^ ^^^^ ,,^ drowned,.^ tat^t:l^-l tUe breach and been carried by mo there buried. ther of the common Trapping at the lodge « ^^ ^^^.^ ,„ ,„ethodB. Two paraUe^ ™^^ °„ ^^^ ^^^ ^i^tance ,to„ the ™»°*",rforming two narrow channels, out into the P«»<'' *"'^:rivers mast pass to enter through one of "^ich *he be .„,y, ,^d the lodge. A trap « sej^i ^^^^^ ,„^„„„. fe secured by achamandstakei ^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ ,^ Fig. IV «»?"♦' •'"f" this way are often found sprang shown. Traps set ^-^'^Jj^^ to an opinion, mo«, and empty, which has g^v«i ^ ^^jj ^ the or less prevalent among A^^'^F ^y the Indians, that they are del.be ^y^^^^^^ ^^^ beavers. There is not orOy n .^ ^ ^^^,fe. conceit, buVou the «ontraJ^th ^^^.^^^ ,bly dull animal wi* re" ^ probably four^ the trap. A. '""^-^^"'"^.i^g their fore feet while in their manner of disposing MODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 233 swimming, which are pressed back against the body, so that in passing over the trap the abdomen instead of the feet comes in contact with the pan, causing the trap to spring. As the trap cannot hold upon a broad flat surface, the beaver escapes. There is another belief, universally adopted by both Indians and trappers, which also admits of question, namely, that when a beaver is caught by either fore leg, he bites it off and thus frees himself from the trap. Beavers are frequently taken with one and sometimes both fore legs gone, and others with the hind feet mutilated in various ways. Two of the three beavers sent down to me from Lake Superior last winter, for the purpose of dissection, had lost each a fore leg, one the right and the other the left, apparently cut oflf close to the shoulder, with the stumps perfectly closed over with skin and healed. The beaver represented in Plate I. is one of them, and has his lost leg restored by borrowing the re- maining one of his neighbor. A beaver was taken on the Upper Missouri, in 1860, with but one perfect foot remaining. Both fore legs were wanting, and one of the hind feet was in part cut off. Captain Wilson caught a beaver on the Esconauba River, in 1862, with but one perfect foot, and that, one of the fore ones, by which he was captured. The other fore leg was gone, apparently cut off close to the shoulder, and the stump healed; one hind foot was cut off across the middle of the webbed portion; and the other diagonally across the same, leaving one toe and its claw. This beaver had evidently been caught four times in traps, from three of which he had escaped. Trappers expect to lose most of the beavers 234 THE AMERICAN BEAYER. h i < m taken by the fore leg, — that is, they catch a foot in- stead of the animal, — and they endeavor so to set their traps that the hind feet will be most likely to tread upon their pans. The true explanation of their ex- trication from traps, when caught by the fore legs, is probably found in the relative smallness of the bones of these legs, and in their frantic efforts to escape. Running around the trap would easily snap them oflf, after which the rending of the skin would be quickly effected. That such is the true explanation, receives confirmation from the fact that the tendons of the leg are usually found pulled out from the shoulder, and still attached to the foot in the trap; which would have been severed by the teeth before the bones of the leg, had the beaver attempted to bite oflf the latter. Beavers caught in traps, and not drowned, some- times become entirely tame from the effects of ex- haustion. Mr. Atchinson, before mentioned, informed the author that he once found a beaver alive in his trap, and completely tamed. He said, to use his own language, "that it looked at him with such an entreat- ing and submissive expression, that he could not find it in his heart to kill him." He resolved to save his life, and take him to the museum at Marquette. On placing his hand upon the beaver's head, and passing it along his back, the latter showed no disposition to bite, c " aversion to this familiarity. After taking him out of the trap, he held and fed him in his lap; and then carried him on his back for sixteen miles, through the forest, to the railroad station. The journey proved too rough for the exhausted beaver, and he died the following morning. This tameuess was un- I I MODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 235 doubtedly the result of physical exhaustion, which deprived the animal of all power of resistance, as well as carried him beyond the sensation of fear. Rarey's system of taming horses is founded upon the same principle.* In the winter, which is the season for trapping, after the ponds are frozen over and the beavers are housed for the winter, other methods are resorted to, among which is the following : the trapper selects a place in the vicinity of a lodge, cuts a hole through the ice, and puts down into the pond a fresh-cut pole of birch or poplar about ten feet long. While the small end is pushed out into the water, the large end is securely fastened in the edge of the bank, and a trap is set immediately under the place where it is secured. This fresh cutting the trapper knows will * That great fear will produce nearly the same results is shown by the peaceful gathering together of different species of wild ani- mals in South America, when the annual rains deluge the pampas. Upon this subject Lieut. Gibbon remarks : " The Indian builds his hut on those elevated places which remain islands. When the great floods of water come down, crickets, lizards, and snakes crawl into his thatched roof; and droves of wild cattle surround his habitation. Armadillos rub their armor against the pottery in the corner of his hut, while the tiger and the stag stand tamely by. The alligator comes socially up, when the 'gran bestia' seats himself on the steps of the door. The animal fam- ily congregate thus strangely together under the influence of the annual deluge. Those of dry land meet where the amphibious are forced to go; and as the rains pour down, they patiently wait. Birds fly in and light upon the trees and top of the hut, while fish rise out of the rivers and explore the prairie lands. The animals begin to seek a place of refuge in the month of Jan- uary, when the soil becomes gradually covered." — Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon, Part II. p. 253. 236 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. [:i I 'ill soon be discovered, and seized with avidity for trans- portation to the lodge. When a beaver has thus found it, and ascertained that it is fast at one end, he follows it up for the purpose of cutting it oflf — very naturally desiring to secure the whole of the stick. This brings him immediately over the trap; and if the trap is judiciously placed, it will be next to a miracle if the unsuspecting victim does not step upon its pan before the stick is severed. This has always been found one of the most successful methods of trapping. After a trap has been set in this way, the trapper throws snow into the hole cut through the ice, to hasten the freezing over of the opening, and leaves the place to quiet until his next round among his traps brings him again to the spot. Another method, of Indian invention, and which, for its deliberate wickedness, surpasses all others, if the business itself admits of gradations in cruelty, con- sists in staking around the pile of winter wood of a beaver family, for the purpose of forcing the whole of them, one after the other, by hunger, into the death- pen thus contrived for their ensnarement. By sound- ing on the ice, they are able to discover where these piles are deposited; after which stake-holes are cut through the ice, and dry stakes are driven in so as to form a palisade entirely around their stock of winter provisions. On the line of their run-way from the lodge to this pile one of the stakes is pulled out, and a light, dry twig is put down loose in its place. When these arrangements are completed, the trapper rolls himself up in his blanket and lies down upon the ice to watch for a movement of the twig, which must oc- cur whenever a beaver enters the inclosure. If he is ?: .^f MODE OP TRAPPING BEAVER. 237 fortunate in point of time, thnt i^i, if there Ih a present want of a cutting at the lodge, he haH but a nhort time to wait. A beaver goes out from the lodge to bring back a cutting from the pile, and, finding a barrier around the magazine, he seeks and finds the only opening left, through which he passes into the inclos- ure. As he enters, the light twig is moved, disclos- ing to the trapper above his presence within the pen; whereupon the latter restores the stake to its place, and the fate of the luckless beaver is sealed. When he finds his return to the lodge cut off, he swims around the circuit of the stakes until he comes back to the place where he entered, and there resigns him- self to death. After he is drowned, the trapper takes him out of the pond, removes the stake, restores the twig, and again lies down to wait the coming of the second beaver. The same necessity which sent out the first soon sends out another upon the same errand, to experience the same fate. One after the other the remainder of the family, under the pressure of the same hunger, and perhaps to discover the cause of the absence of those who went before them, go forth from the lodge and enter the fatal prison-house of the trap- per. It is said that if he takes the first beaver by this device, it is almost certain that he will capture the entire family. The drawback to this manner of entrapping is the danger of alarming their fears by the presence of the palisade around their pile of cuttings, at which, if the first beaver turns back, the rest will keep at a distance. It is further stated that they in- variably drown at the stake where they entered. In trapping bank beaver, they use various kinds of scents to attract them to the place where the trap is I ll II I :ne 5 of hot e of litO tain this tend- case the sons, linity, indent Ith the •f the [roprie- |a trap- aring his ex- |upy i^' luperior custom. selves, isturbed enjoyment of their respective bentH. Ertch trnp|)or, or family, or association, therefore, hnn a special round, upon which they make repeated exjwditionH during the season of the hunt. On the first journey, they carry in and distribute their traps, select and provision their camps, and prepare generally for an arduous winter's work. A single trapper can mannj^e from fifty to seventy traps upon a line thirty or forty miles in circuit. At regular intervals, the traps, after Injing set, are visited, the captured animals removed, and the traps reset. This round of the traps, with the curing of the skins, fills out their time, and furnishes sys- tematic employment for the season. The life of the trapper, although one of hardship and privation, is full of adventure. They lead, to a greater or less extent, a life of solitude in the track- less forests, encountering dangers of every kind, en- during fatigue and hunger, and experiencing, in return, the pleasures, such as they are, afforded by the hunt. As a class they are generous, reckless, and intelligent, and very companionable. From their relations to each other of their adventures, and of their observa- tions upon the habits of animals, a kind of ''animal lore" has been developed and propagated of very ample fullness and range, which, in course of time, may be considered worthy of perpetuation in written form. Their conclusions are not always veritable, as they are prone to be over-credulous; neither are their speculations always sound; but in both they display much acuteness and ingenuity. The regular trappers are an original and peculiar class of men, whose tend- encies of mind have led them away from human society, into a life substantially with the wild animals, 16 242 THE AMERICAN BEAYEB. S^-N and with Nature in her most rugged forms. Many of them, by natural endowments, were deserving of a higher destiny. It is one of their customs, and one which served me a useful purpose, to hang up the skulls of captured animals upon bushes and limbs of trees on the lines of their routes. This practice is alluded to by Samuel P. Ely, Esq , in the following letter, which I take the liberty to insert for its humorous reference to this custom. Having written to him for some beaver skulls to complete my collection, his answer came under date of February 26, 1866, as follows: "I ca*^ obtain the skulls, and have arra':ged with two diflfer- ent trappers for thirty each. If they both fulfill their engagements, your craniology of the beaver will be unimpeachable. Accompanying them will be an oc- casional mink, otter, and lynx skull, which may be useful for purposes of comparison. It is fortunately quite easy to procure these skulls. It appears that a custom is quite prevalent among trappers to hang up, among the bushes on their line, the skulls of the animals whose fur and flesh they have appropriated; and it is nothing more than the collection of them on one of their tours to get thirty or forty specimens. Since nothing of this kind is done without motive, I present you gratuitously my theory on that point. 1st. It is subjectively encouraging to the trapper, when the hunt fails him for a time, and his traps are empty, to look upon the memorials of his past success. " 2d. It is objectively calculated to produce on the living animals, which also view these relics, a feeling of resignation to the fate, which, once deemed finally inevitable, they are the less careful to avoid. MODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 243 a ed ed les uel the this iver ame iffer- their lU be itioc- ay be lately that a ngup, of the riated; lem on jinaens. otive, 1 point, rapper, caps 9se success, on the a feeling d finally *'It is interesting, however, that so remarkable a custom should furnish immediately such a mass of materials for scientific investigation. Think of sixty skulls ofF-hand ? They are promised to me without fail. Do not, however, count them already sure, because these sons of the forest, as a general thing, fail to apprehend the relation between a promise and its fulfillment, which the more civilized man finds it convenient to observe.'" The number of beavers taken during a season's hunt varies, of course, with the skill of the trapper and the supply within his district. On the south shore of Lake Superior, an Indian family of four effective persons will capture from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty, if their hunting grounds are well stocked. Fifty and a hundred are not an uncommon number.' But the business must be assiduously fol- lowed to secure any degree of success. . The statistics of the fur trade sufficiently prove that beavers existed in immense numbers in different parts of North America at the several epochs of their set- tlement. A brief reference to some of the figures will make this apparent. In 1624, the Dutch West * It is proper to add that the promise was amply redeemed by the production, in due time, of forty skulls. * John Hutchins, a famous trapper, now residing in Maulius, New York, estiaates the number of animals bo Las caught in traps, or taken in other ways in the course of his life, as follows : "one hundred moose; one thousand deer ; ten caribou ; one hun- dred bears ; fifty wolves ; five hundred foxes ; one hundred rac- coons; twenty-five wild-cats; one hundred lynx; one hundred and fifty otters; six hundred beavers ; four hundred fishers; mink and marten by the thousands, musk-rats by the ten thousands." — Newhouse's Trapper^s Guide, p. 64. 244 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. . A frnm New Amsterdam four India Company -?»'«*/^^,f;lg„rated this trade hundred ^-'''l^^Z'^l^TZ>eX^ i°"«»«'^ "^ ^itl, the New World. Jh"^ j^d and eighty- 1635 to fourteen thousand »" ;„„, „ the one. During the "^^^^^Cnsand'one hun- .hole nnmber exported w^«gh^^^ was then worth dred and eighty-three. >- ^^^ ^^^ steadily about two dollars and »J°«'«^j ^^ o^t^h ended, in increased until *«/"—,« a\easure of value, 1664. Beavet pelts were then ^^_^ ^^^^^ and formed a part of ""T"^^ ' bol in the seal himself was adopted ^^*-^:^, ^,^, English of the P«>^'"««\.^r .."J' of export from New York ™le, to be the *f„"jf ^^fch^he exportation de- unta the year 1700, ^^^'^^^^ ,^ti„et. In 1687, elined rapidly, and ^o"" Jf ^"^^^ ;„„« of New Thomas Dongan, g»-«™» /j^ as follows: "We York, remarks m '«' ° 'lae U very much dimin-. find this year that the --n-e 'sj^ ^^ ^^^ ished, for in other years we wej » ^^^^ England thirty-five or forty thous ^^^ ^^^ peltry; this y^\'^^l„riX^n November, 1700, dreds, peltry and » 1- *= ^1,^ jorfs of trade in Governor Bellomont "-"^ ^ t ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^_^^,j^ equally -!««<>"••»«'"«. ^^fkto U'"^ " °°"'"^' *"* here and at Boston "/""^J^ " „ E„gtod that 'tis the market is so low "'"j^have been told that scarce worth t^e trans^v^ce «as in possession of in one year, when «''.P'°.^ thousand beaver skins . Colonial Hist >iew York, m. 4Tb. MODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 245 Kay. but fifteen thousand two hundred and forty-one ex- ported hence.'" During the same periods, large num- bers of beaver skins were exported from Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvai, ia, and Virginia, and from New England. In the ear y part of the last century the trade ceased within these portions of the United States. Shortly before the 3'ear 1800, American enterprise was directed to the fur trade on the Northwest Coast, and the several organizations which sprang up were finally merged in the American Fur Company, whose field of operations was upon the head waters of the Columbia, the Yellowstone, and the Missouri, and the shores of Lake Superior. This company is still en- gaged in the general business, but the amount of beaver skins now obtained is comparatively small. Formerly it was large, but the statistics of their trade are not within my reach. The Hudson's Bay Company has been the most im- portant and efficient organization in North America for the capture of the fur-bearing animals. Possess- ing exclusive jurisdiction over an immense area, of little value for settlement, but of great value for the production of fur, they have enjoyed a monopoly of this trade for nearly two centuries. Their exporta- tion of beaver skins alone has often exceeded a hun- dred thousand per annum. In 174.3, one hundred and fifty thousand were received at Rochelle and London, the greater portion of which was from the Hudson's Bay territory and the Canadas. From the recent catalogues of the sales of this company, it ap- pears that they sold at their houses in Edinburgh and ' Colonial Hist. New York, iv. 789. 246 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. London, in January and August, 1854, five hundred and nine thousand two hundred and forty beaver skins; in January and August, 1855, sixty-two thou- sand three hundred and fifty-two; and in January, 1856, fifty-six thousand and thirty- three ;^ making in the aggregate the enormous number of six hundred and twenty-seven thousand six hundred and twenty- five beaver skins in the course of two and a half years. It is to be inferred that the large number sold in 1854 was the accumulation of a few previous years, and that the numbers sold in 1855 and in the first half of 1856 show the average annual production at this late period. The foregoing statistics are sufficient to indicate the numerical extent to which the species had become de- veloped and increased in North America, as well as to mark the areas in which they were the most abund- ant. A statement before made may be here repeated, that the beaver, with his life, has contributed in no small degree to the colonization and settlement of the British Provinces and the United States. Having in the preceding pages discussed the princi- pal questions with reference to the beaver and his works, it is proposed, in a final chapter, to consider some of those relating to Animal Psychology. Al- though a digression from the main subject to one entirely independent, the two are strictly correlated. It must be the ultimate result of investigations con- cerning the habits and lives of animals to raise Ani- mal Psychology to the rank of a science, by affording * Schoolcraft's Hist, Cond., and Pros., of the Indian Tribes, vi. 728. MODE OF TRAPPING BEAVER. 247 n A y- rs. 54 nd :of his the I de- ll as und- ated, the necessary materials for solving questions relative to the mental qualities of the mutes. Nora. — In closing these pages upon the works of the beaver, I desire to make special mention of my friend, William Can)cron, of Marquette, to whom I am indebted for my first acquaintance with the beaver lore of the trappers. Although I have not ven- tured to use it, except with caution, I have found it useful in the progress of this investigation. A quarter-blood Ojibwa, and the son of one of the factors of the Hudson's Bay Company, Cam- eron married an Ojibwa woman, adopted the customs of her nation, and is now drawing near the end of a long life spent on the shores of Lake Superior. As a voyageur, he has traversed the continent to the Pacific coast ; as a trapper, be has explored the great forests around Lake Superior, as well as portions of the Hudson's Bay Territory ; and lastly, as a soldier in the army of the United States, he has served bis country with fidelity. A thoroughbred woodman, an honest and most unselfish man, he is every way a clever companion. I shall ever hold him in pleasant remembrance as one of those eccentric and unspoiled children of nature whom we occasionally meet with in the journey of life. no the Tribes, CHAPTER IX. ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. Inquiries proposed — Whether the Mutes possess a Mental Principle — Whether its Qualities are similar to those manifested by the Human Mind — Whether the Differences are of Degree, or of Kind — Considerations from Structural Organization — The Principle of Life — Memory — Reason — Imagination — The Will — Appetites and Passions — Lunacy of Animals — General Conclusions. J:; I The popular mind has always been in advance of the metaphysicians with reference to the mental en- dowments of animals. For some reason there has been a perpetual hesitation among many of the latter to recognize, in the manifestations of the animal mind, the same characteristics that are displayed by the human intellect: lest the high position of man should be shaken or impaired. Besides this, the con- nection in man between the intellectual faculties and the moral sense is found to be so intimate, that the concession of the former has seemed, to cautious minds, to draw after it the necessary admission of the latter. In attempting to escape this imaginary dilemma, the metaphysicians have been betrayed, as it would seem, into a false position. This is shown by the invention, in modern times, of a vague, not to say fictitious, principle, with which all animals have been arbitrarily endowed for the government and maintenance of their lives. There can be no objec- tion to the use of this principle, which is termed "in- (248) ANIMAL PSTCHOLOGT. 249 , as hown not to have t, and objec- led "in- stinct," to explain, or rather to leave unexplained, certain mental phenomena exhibited equally by man- kind and the inferior animals, so long as it in restricted to those mental processes which are beyond the reach of consciousness. But the attempt to explain all the mental phenomena manifested by the mutes by means of an arbitrary term is an evasion of the true ques- tion involved. It would be difficult, in right reason, to discover the slightest tendency to lower the per- sonal dignity of man, or to alter in the least his re- sponsibility to God, by recognizing the existence in the mutes of a thinking self-conscious principle, the same in kind that man possesses, but feebler in de- gree; nor even by conceding their possession of a moral sense, although, so far as our present knowl- edge extends, it is so faintly developed as scarcely to deserve the name. Man, at least, should neither ad- mit nor deny the moral sense to the lower animals because of the supposed bearing of such an admission upon his own relations to the Supreme Being. The question of the degree and kind of their mental en- dowments should stand upon its own basis, and be re- solved upon its own merits. I trust the sensibilities of no one will be disturbed by this method of intro- ducing the subject of Animal Psychology; and that the subject may be considered unaffected by external complications, and be studied independently upon its own authoritative facts. When the Creator brought into existence the vari- ous species of animals, He intrusted to each individ- ual being the care of his own life. As a principle of intelligence was indispensable to capacitate each one to maintain and preserve that life^ we find each indi- 250 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. vidual endowed with a mental or spiritual essence which is distinct from the body, but associated with it in a mysterious manner. It requires no argument to prove that the mutes possess a principle of intelli- gence which performs for them the same office in governing their conduct that the human mind does for man. When the existence of mind in the mutes is recognized, the qualities it manifests become the subject of investigation. As we know nothing of the ultimate nature of the human mind, so in like man- ner we know nothing of the ultimate nature of the animal mind; but since the former manifests certain faculties, as memory, certain passions, as anger, cer- tain appetites, as hunger, and puts forth a certain power, the will, — the true inquiry is, whether the latter manifests certain faculties, as memory, certain passions, as anger, certain appetites, as hunger, and puts forth a certain power, the will ? If the affirma- tive is found to be true as to each of these proposi- tions, then the next question must be, whether any diflference in kind can be discovered between the memory of a man and the memory of a mute; be- tween the anger of the one and the anger of the other; the hunger of the one and the hunger of the other; or the will of the one and the will of the other. Unless some real and determinate difference can be found by which to differentiate the qualities of the animal mind from those of the human mind, it must necessarily follow that the mute and the man are both endowed with a similar mental principle; and that man owes his superior dignity not to the exclu- sive possession of this principle, but rather to its en- joyment in a higher, more ample, and more distin- guishing degree. ANIMAL PSTCHOLOQT. 251 It is one of the extraordinary features of this Divine gift that it is capable of adaptation to so many, and to such diversified organisms; and not less remarkable that it should still reveal the fundamental similarities of a common principle through all its ramifications, so far as we are able to observe its manifestations. Our knowledge of the lives of the higher animals is ex- tremely limited, and four led upon observation alone; while of the inferior species it is next to nothing. The discussion of the subject of Animal Psychology is, therefore, necessarily limited to the higher ani- mals, and to such facts, with reference to these, as ai'e well authenticated and universally admitted. Any argument which passes beyond the range of ascer- tained facts is incapable of proving or disproving any proposition. Neither is it desirable to perplex ourselves with the question, whether or not the mutes possess a con- science, or the moral sense. While a negative decla- ration proves nothing, an affirmative assertion is without support in existing knowledge. The prior question, in point of time, is concerning their mental endowments. It is equally unnecessary to discuss the grounds of the artificial distinction which is made between the ap])etites and passions on the one hand, and the intel- lectual powers on the other. The concession of the former to the mutes in common with mankind, and the withholding of the latter as an independent and distinguishing gift, is an assumption which tends to mislead without advancing the true inquiry. The passion of anger and the pain of hunger can only be predicated of a mental principle, of which they are 252 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. i 1 1 M.> I manifestations as absolutely as memor}' or imagina- tion. Indeed, it is an axiom in moral as well as in intellectual science, that pain and pleasure are expe- rienced in the mind, and not in the organs of the body. When, therefore, we find the phenomena of pleasure and pain displayed by individuals of every species, and to be essentially the same in kind among them all, it leads to the same general con- clusion; namely, that all living creatures possess a similar mental principle. This leaves the question of difference in degree, which was rendered necessary by difference in species. I propose to submit, in a brief form, a series of con- siderations or arguments based upon the structural organization, and authenticated acts, of the higher animals, tending to show : first, that they possess a mental principle; secondly, that the qualities which it manifests are essentially the same as those displayed by the human mind; and lastly, that the difference between these (jualities, and, ' inferentially, between the principles they respectively represent, is one o^ degree and not of kind. The discussion, to be brief, must necessarily be general ; and it is entered upon rather for the purpose of oflfering suggestions upon branches of the subject, than of treating it systematic- ally as a whole. I have neither the facts nor the ability to prepare a treatise upon this important but difficult theme. I. Structural Organization. It has been demon- strated, by anatomical comparisons, that the struct- ural organization of the vertebrate animals conforms to a general plan, the fundamental features of which run through ail the species, genera, orders, and classes ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. 253 of this branch of the animal kinjjrdoni. The nevcral species thus stand in fixed rtdations to each other, and are all hound together hy the common creative thought which is incorporated in the diversified forms of the individual representatives of each. Man. there- fore, is not permitted to overlook the fact that he is a constituent member of this vertebrate branch; and although endowed, relatively, with the highest capa- cities, and invested with the highest organization, he cannot free himself from the bond by which its sev- eral members are indissolubly united. Among the conspicuous features of this plan of structure is the brain, which is enveloped in a skull, and placed in immediate connection with the organs of sense. The nervous system, of which the brain is the centre, is universally regarded as the seat of the mental principle. Since all the vertebrate animals possess both the one and the other, they are all alike raised to the first condition necessary for the mani- festation of intelligence. In the next place, they all agree in the possession of the organ of vision, located in the head in immediate connection with the brain ; of the organs for smelling and hearing (with the ex- ception perhaps of some species), similarly placed, and holding similar relations to the brain. Besides these, are the senses of taste and touch. These several senses, operating through similar mechanisms, have but one office, that of communicating impressions of external objects to the brain for the information of the mental principle. By their means a second condition of in- telligence is secured; namely, perception. Without one or mare of these senses, which are the instru- ments of perception, the bare continuance of animal 254 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. \'$ I W ' life would be impoHHible; and ^et, without the pres- ence of a mental principle to take cognizance of the imprcsHionH thus conveyed, thtir object would neces- sarily be defeated. These intimacies of structure are particularly re- markable among the mammals. The office and func- tions of the several bones and muscles of the animal frame are much the same in the different species. So the nervous system, which is centralized in the brain, is distributed throughout the body in such a manner that the relative position as well as functions of its several parts are similar, if not precisely the same, in all. The several ganglia are found in the same con- nection with the nerves of sensation and of motion, and performing the same offices in a similar manner. Such minute differences as exist find their explana- tion in the special adaptation of each animal to his sphere of life. In like manner, the circulating sys- tem is constructed upon the same general plan, em- ploying the same organs, with slight variations of form. The same is equally true of the organs of res- piration and of the digestive apparatus. One nomen- clature suffices for the minutest subdivisions of the mammalian form. The anatomist traces, with facil- ity, this conformity of structure through all the diversities which specific difference creates. Such modifications of particular organs as occur are seen to be necessary to meet special exigencies, such for ex- ample as relate to subsistence and to motion. Thus, the organs of respiration admit of considerable diver- sity in size and form, according to the amount they are required to furnish. Birds need a large quantity of respiration to give to their muscles the strength, and ANIMAL rSYCIIOLCXJY. 25o e»- he les- re- inc- mal So 'ain, oner .fits ie,in I con- Dtion, tnner. plana- to his g sys- n, em- ons of of res- lomen- of the facil- lall the Such ,re seen 1 for ex- Thus, le diver- mt they antity of igth, and n to their bodies the lightness ncceHHiiry to tiight; whence they have not only a double circuhitiun uf the bUH)d, and an aerial reHpiration, but they al^o reHpire by other cavities besides the lungs. In most animals the ({uan- tity of respiration is moderate, because they are formed to walk rather than to run; in reptiles, whicii are formed to creep or hop, it is lower still; while in fishes it is least of all, since they are suspended in a medium of nearly their own specific gravity, and require but little muscular strength for motion. These differ- ences are chiefly produced by variations of the same organs. From the fact that the vertebrate animals share a common typical structure, a strong preHumi>- tion arises that they also share a common principle of intelligence. This presumption is materially strengthened by other considerations. The structure of the higher animals leads directly to the inference that each of their organic forms was designed to be actuated and governed by a thinking principle; a principle not only capable of receiving impressions conveyed by the organs of sense, but also of making a rational use of the perceptions which these organs were designed to throw perpetually under its cognizance. To deny the existence of the principle, or its power to act, is a denial of the obvious purpose of the elab- orate mechanism of the animal frame. From every point in which the structural relations of the vertebrate animals are considered, a common plan of creation is not only seen, but this, in turn, becomes deeply significant upon the question of sim- ilar mental endowments. These intimacies of struct- ure are the foundation of corresponding intimacies in 256 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. ! ::' the principle of intelligence by which they are actu- ated. II. The Principle of Life. Life in all its forms is a mystery. As a formative power, it builds up the infantile body from weakness into maturity and strength. It maintains a perpetual conflict with the elements of disorder and decay until the organism in which it dwells breaks up, or wears itself out. Is death the destruction of this principle? or is it imma- terial, and expelled, like the spirit, from the body? If it be a principle, and, therefore, immaterial, it would be difficult to show that the living and think- ing principles are separate and distinct entities. It seems to be more than surmisable that the two are identical. It is I — the spirit — which lives, and not the body, which is material. If life comes of the union of body and spirit, then it is not an entity, but a result; and all there is of life is the life of the spir- itual essence, or of the principle of intelligence. Vegetable life cannot be compared with animal, be- cause the former, to omit other differences, is without self-consciousness. Will it be said that the mutes are without consciousness? It is answered that conscious- ness is an inseparable and essential quality of the mental principle, When a beaver stands for a mo- ment and looks upon his work, evidently to see whe- ther it is right, and whether anything else is needed, he shows himself capable of holding his thoughts be- fore his beaver mind ; in other words, he is conscious of his own mental processes. The possession of the principle of life by the higher animals, from its most robust to its most sensitive forms, draws after it whatever this principle may represent. ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. 267 uigber forms, esent. III. Memory. The mind is known by its qualities exclusively. As a principle, or essence, it is not divisible into parts, or faculties, or organs, each having an independ- ent existence. "The utmost ingenuity," says Aber- crombie, "has not been able to advance a step beyond the fact that the mind remembers, reasons, imagines; and there we must rest contented." It cannot f Arctic Explorations, 1. 149. ' Sir William Hamilton's definition of " Instinct." ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. 2G3 ed, \ an te- as a ,8ter, To sable f and ige- i of a resting ; capa- olves a er. A anclies, ^sirable, cut this . then I " But ing be- is suffi- nnected e limbs, odge. A olve him described er again, reasoning ict." processes undistinguishable from similar processes of reasoning performed by the human mind. Again, the construction of a canal from the pond across the lowlands to the rising ground, upon wlilch the hard wood is found, to provide a way for the transportation of this wood by water, is another re- markable act of animal intelligence. A canal is not absolutely necessary to beavers any more than such a work is to mankind; but it comes to both alike as the result of progress in knowledge. A beaver canal could only be conceived by a lengthy and even com- plicated process of reasoning. After the conception hod been developed and executed in one place, the selection of a line for a canal in another would in- volve several distinct considerations, such as the character of the ground to be excavated, its surface, elevation above the level of the pond, and the supply of hard wood near its necessary terminus. These, together with many other elements of fitness, must be ascertained to concur before the work could be safely entered upon. When a comparison of a large number of these beiver canals has demonstrated that they were skillfully and judiciously located, the in- ference seems to be unavoidable that the advantages named were previously ascertained. This would re- quire an exercise of reason in the ordinary accepta- tion of the term. And this leads to another suggestion. Upon the Upper Missouri these canals are impossible, from the height of the river banks; and besides this they are unnecessary, as the cotton-wood, which is the prevail- ing tree, is found to the edge of the river. While, therefore, canals are unknown to the Missouri beavers, 264 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. they are constantly in use among the beavers of Lake Superior. On the other hand, the "beaver- slides" so common and so necessary on the Upper Missouri, are i nnecessary, and therefore unknown, in the Lake Superior region. Contrary to the common opinion, is there not some evidence of a progress in knowledge to be found in the beaver canal and the beaver-slide? There was a time, undoubtedly, when the canal first came into use, and a time, consequently, when it was entirely unknown. Its first introduction was an act of progress from a lower to a higher artifi- cial state of life. The use of the slide tends to show the possession of a free intelligence, by means of which they are enabled to adapt themselves to the circumstances by which they are surrounded. In like manner it has been seen that the lodge is not con- structed upon an invariably typical plan, but adapted to the particular location in which it is placed. The lake, the island, and the bank lodge are all different from each other, and the difference consists in changes of form to meet the exigencies of the situation. These several artificial works show a capacity in the beaver to adapt his constructions to the particular conditions in which he finds himself placed. Whether or not they evince progress in knowledge, they at least show that the beaver follows, in these respects, the sugges- tions of a free intelligence. "Instinc*," says Dr. Reid, "is the habitual power of producing effects like contrivances of reason, yet so far beyond the intelligence and experience of the agent, as to be wholly unexplainable by reference to them." Habitual acts can only be understood from human experience. Acts to be performed habit- ANIMAL PSTGHOLOGT. 205 ually or mechanically must first be learned by an exercise of intelligence. It is a very unsatisfactory explanation of the works of a beaver, to aflirm that he was endowed at his birth with a mechanical skill which, by the laws of mind, must be acquired by experience. An assertion that the nets of a beaver in felling a tree, in constructing a dam, or in excavating a canal, are beyond his intelligence, is mere assumption, as well as a contradiction of terras. This conclusion flows legitimately from the original blunder of at- tempting arbitrarily to endow animals with a super- natural principle, which enables them to perform ignorantly and blindly works of intelligence and knowledge. While this mysterious "agent" performs its ofRce intelligently, the animal is a mere machine, according to the theory of Descartes. In other words, he is made a dwelling for a principle of intelligence; but this principle being superior to, and in some way independent of, the mute, holds no other relation to him than that of master and guide. Can anything be found in the whole range of human speculation more feeble than this expedient of human reason to explain a class of phenomena as simple as the sim- plest in the natural world? The practice of beavers, while moving their short cuttings by water, of placing one end against the throat and pushing it from behind, of carrying mud and stones under their throats, holding them there with the paws, and of packing mud upon their lodges and dams by a stroke of the tail, have elsewhere been ex- plained. They are severally intelligent acts, performed sensibly and rationally. Their method of shoving or rolling the larger billets of wood with their hips is 266 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. even more ingenious. The little antu resort to a simi- lar expedient to move bitH of grain, but shove them with their shoulders. Their ingenuity and intelli- gence attracted the attention of ancient observers, several of whom recognized in them the possession of a mental principle.' Cicero says of the ant, who ex- cels the beaver in systematic industry : " In formicam non modo sensus, sed etiam mens, ratio, memoria."' Personal labor of every kind and description depends upon, as well as evinces, the continuous operation of a mental principle. Many animals, among which the beaver and the ant are good examples, provide a store of provisions for their sustenance during winter. This act shows a forecast of the future. To satisfy present hunger is a p'mple act of intelligence; but to anticipate dis- tant wants and provide for them is a much higher act of knowledge. What motive could induce the mutes to make such provision unless they knew, or had * Ac veluti ingentem formicaB farris acervum quum populant, hicmis niemorea, tectoque reponunt : it nigrum campis agmen, praedamqne per herbas convectant calle angusto; pars grandia trudunt obnixae frumenta humcris; pars agmina coguut, castigantque moras; opere omnis semita fervet. VlRQIIi, -^NEID, iv. 402. Ac si quis comparet onera corporibns earum, fateatur, nullis portione vires esse majores. Gcrunt ea morsu. Majora avorssB postremis pedibus moliuntur, Immeris obnixiB. Et iis RepublicsB ratio, memoria, cura. Pliny, Nat. Hist., Lib. xi. c. xxxvi. The ai ts are a people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer. Proverbs, xxx. 25. * De Nat. Deorum. Lib. iii. c. ix. ANIMAL rSYCIIOLUGY. 207 learned by experience, that winter followe. tlety of mind, to coiintoract, in thcHe ways, the d'lnjicr. These expedients presuppose a consciousness of peril, which of itself involves a knowledge of antecedeiit occurrences; and the execution of tho device shows deliberation, conclusion, and an exercise of the will. The nets themselves are unexplainable except as manifestations of a free intelligence. This anim)!l, whose cunning is proverbial, has been known to simulate death, to secure his deliverance, under circumstances somewhat trying to his fortitude. A fox one night entered the hen-house of a farmer, and after destroying a large number of fowls, gorged himself to such repletion that he could not pass out through the small aperture by which he had entered. The proprietor found him, in the morning, sprawied out upon the floor apparently dead from surfeit; and taking him up by the legs carried him out, unsus- pectingly, and for some distance to the side of his house, where he dropped him upon the grass. No sooner did Reynard find himself free than he sprang to his feet and made his escape.' He seemed to know that it was only as a dead fox that he would be al- lowed to leave the scene of his spoliations; and yet to devise this plan of escape required no ordinary effort of intelligence, while its execution rather taxes our iionfidence in his possession of such steadiness of ' This incident was communicated to the author by C'""!!! C. White, of Aurora, New York, who carried out the fox. His veracity is unimpeachable. 270 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. i 11 nerves. A man placed in similar circumstances, and resorting to a like expedient, would be conscious of several distinct processes of reasoning. It is difficult to perceive how these processes could be possible, in either case, except by the agency of a mental princi- ple or how they could differ as modes of thought. The several acts of the mutes here cited, as illustra- tions of the exercise of reason, can be fully explained as manifestations of a thinking principle. When the possession by them of such a principle is recognized, all difficulties vanish; and their conduct appears in an intelligible light. It also follows that their intelligence must necessarily be free to act within the range of its powers. In this discussion the relative strength of their mental capacities is left out of view, as imma- terial. Compared with those of the human intellect they are feeble and slight, but within their several spheres of life and action they are ample for the promotion of their individual happiness. V. Imagination. Whether the animal mind exhibits the quality of imagination it may be difficult to sub- stantiate. Although it is one of the highest quali- ties of the mental principle, yet it is manifested in many simple forms. The playfulness of childhood, which is also commonly exhibited by the young of animals, is superinduced, seemingly, by the pictures or images formed in the mind by the fancy or imagin- ation. This faculty, Kames observes, "is the great instrument of recreation." If an attempt is made to explain the songs of birds, it will be necessary to re- sort to imagination, since the art itself is imaginative. Animals are known to dream from physical indica- tions during sleep, and dreams are the works of mem- 1^ :>''9ri ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. 271 ory and imagination. Too little is known of the lives of animals to show whether they possess this quality in any sensible degree. VI. The Will. A doubt has been entertained whether the mutes possess a will, like the will of man, because responsibility must follow its exercise. Their own lives, at least, are intrusted to their keeping, the pres- ervation of which is the highest form of responsibility. With a free volition, they rise up or lie down; they go or come; they play or quarrel, they bark, or mew, or sing; and they lie in wait for prey, or seek it by long excursions. These several acts are performed under the influence of motives, and were preceded by an ''xercise of the will. Unless the mute has a free choice between alternative courses, one of which may lead to danger and the other to safety, his conduct would be unintelligent. He might, lose his life at any moment. The will is that mental power that sets the body in motion to execute a resolution previously reached by a process of reasoning. It is the power which adopts and executes the conclusions of the judgment. Unless a diflference can be discovered in the quality of the will, as displayed by the mutes and by mankind, there is no means of distinguishing one from the other, except in the degree of its strength and persistency. A will, also, presupposes the exist- ence of a mental principle, of which alone it ca*^ be predicated. VII. Appetites and Passions. The mutes have the appetites and passions in common with mankind. No difficulty has ever been found in conceding a commu- nity of characteristics in these, the inferior, manifest- ations of the mental principle. While they differ in 272 THE AMERICAN BEAVER m l.l'l the degree of their strength, some of them are un- doubtedly wanting among the lowest grades of the vertebrate animals. As a portion of them excel man- kind in the acuteness of the senses, by means of which the feebleness of their mental powers is supplemented, so in some of the appetites and passions they may possess a delicjicy of sensibility of which the human species are incapable. In their affections for their young, and for their mates (among such as pair), the highest evidence of their sensibility is found. They also display courage, fidelity, and gratitude, and to these, perhaps, in some rare instances, benevolence raay be added. For the possession of these qualities, wiiich are undistinguishable from the corresponding qualities manifested by the human mind, and for the beautiful illustrations of maternal affection which they display, they are entitled to our regard. Captain Stansbury gives the following account of a blind pelican upon one of the islands of the Great Salt Lake of Utah : " In a ramble around the shores of the island, I came across a venerable looking old pelican, very large and fat, which allowed me to ap- proach him without attempting to escape. Surprised at his apparent tameness, we examined him more closely, and found that it was owing to his being en- tirely blind, for he proved to be very pugnacious, snapping freely, but vaguely, on each side, in search of his enemies, whom he could hear but could not see. As he was totally helpless, he must have subsisted on the charity of his neighbors, and his sleek and com- fortable condition showed, that like beggars in more civilized communities, he had ' fared f^uraptuously everv day.* The food of these birds consists entirely of iiii HI ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. 273 fish, which they must necessarily obtain from Boar River, from the Weber, the Jordan, or from the Warm Springs on the eastern side of Spring Valley, at all of which places they were obi^erved fishing for food. The nearest of these points was more than thirty miles distant, making necessary a flight of at least f*ixty miles to procure and transport food for the subsistence of their young. Immense numbers of young birds vvere huddled 'ogether in groups abo.^t the island, under the charge of a grave looking nurse or keeper, who, all the time that we were there, was relieved from guard at intervals as regularly as a sentinel."' Incidents illustrative of this class of qualities could be multiplied to an indefinite extent. They tend in a ^ Stansbury's Salt Lake, p. 193. Another incident related by the same writer, expressive of the maternal solicitude as well as intelligence of the pelican, 'S worth repeating. "Rouriding the north point of Antelope Island, we calltid at the little isl(;t, to which we had given the aame of Egg Island, to look after our old friends, the gulls and pelicans. ♦ ♦ * One poor fellow, about four inches long, driven by the extremity of his fear, took to the water of his own accord, when he was swept out by the current to the distance of two or three hundred yards, and seemed quite bewildered by the novelty of his situation. As soon as he was discovered by the old birds, who lK)vered over our hvada in thousandc watching our proceedings with great an.\iei_y and noise, one — the parent, we judged, from its greater solicitude — lighted down by its side, and was soon joined by half a dozen others, who began guiding the little navigator to the shore, flying a little way before him, and again alighting, the mother swimming beside him, and evidently encouraging him in this, his first adven- ture upon the water. The little fellow seemed perfectly to under- stand what was meant, and when we sailed away, was advancing rapidly under the convoy of his friends, and was within a few yards of the shore, which he dou))tless reached in safely." — lb. p. 20T. 18 274 THE AMEBICAN BEAVER. II striking manner to sliow the uniformity of the opera- tions of the mental principle throughout the animal kingdom. VIII. Lunacy of Animals. Under the preceding heads we have discussed a small number out of the great body of facts which tend to establish the exist- ence of a thinking reasoning principle among the mutes; and also tending to show that the qualities manifested by it cannot be distinguished from the cor- responding manifestations of the human mind, except in the degree of their strength. Cases have occurred among animals where their mental powers were over- thrown, and lunacy supervened, furnishing the same external indications which follow the overthrow of the human intellect, so that the animal has been seen in both conditions, when in the full possession of his fiiculties, and when their functions have been sus- pended. Dr. Kane relates several cases in point among his dogs, occasioned by the absence of light during the long arctic winter while he was ice bound in the far north. He remarks as follows: "The mouse-colored dogs, the leaders of my Newfoundland team, have for the last fortnight been nursed like babies. No one can tell how anxiously I watch them. They are kept below, tended, fed, cleansed, caressed, and doctored, to the infinite discomfort of all hands. To-day I give up the last hope of saving them. Their disease is as clearly mental as in the ^ase of any human being. The more material functions of the poor brutes go on without interruption; they eat voraciously, retain their strength, and sleep well. But all the indica^ tions beyond this go to prove that the original epilepsy, which wa? the first manifestation of brain disease ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. 275 a- al ng ihe istr the ties cor- cept rred )ver- same w of seen 3f bis 1 8US- imong igthe he far ;olored a.ve for 0 one •e kept \[)cU)redj 1 give tse is as being. IS go on , retain indicar spiiepsy, disease among them, has been followed by a true lunacy. They look frenziedly at nothing, walk in straight and curved lines, with anxious and unwearying persever- ance. They fawn on you, but without seeming to appreciate the notice you give them in return ; push- ing their heads against your person, or oscillating with a strange pantomime of fear. Their most intel- ligent actions seem automatic; sometimes they claw you as if trying to burrow into your seal skins; some- times they remain for hours in moody silence, and then start oflf howling as if pursued, and run up and down for hours. So it was with poor Flora, our *wise dog.' She was seized with the endemic spasms, and after a few days of violent paroxysms, lapsed into a lethargic condition, eating voraciously, but gaining no strength. This passing off, the same 3razy wild- ness took possession of her, and she died of brain disease (arachnoidal effusion) in about six weeks."' This account is so full and specific that it needs no comment. Such a case of lunacy was only needed to complete the analogy which seems to be sustained in every other of the more common manifestations ot the animal and of the human mind. From the foregoing but most incomplete and im- perfect consideration of some of the branches of the subject of Animal Psychology, it would be venture- some to urge any other than the more simple conclu- sions. Two or three only will be suggested. In the first place, the term "instinct," to explain the intelligent acts of animals, should be abandoned. This term was an invention of the metaphysicians to * Arctic Explorations, i. 157. 276 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. Hi assert and maintain a fundamental distinction be- tween the mental principle of the human species and that of the inferior animals. With its multiform defi- nitions, and with the repeated enlargements '^f its signification, it is wholly incapable of explaining the phenomena of animal intelligence. As a vain tattempt to embody a system of philosophy in a definition, it has proved a failure, as might have been expected. When carried to its legitimate results, it endows every animal with a supernatural principle, and makes each of his intelligent acts little short of a miracle. As a term or invention it is functus officio. With its disuse the subject of Animal Psychology is freed from all extraneous embarrassments, and the mental phe- nomena manifested by the mutes can be investigated and explained on philosophical principles. In the second place, we are led to recognize in the mutes the possession of a free intelligence. In other words, that they are endowed with a mental principle which performs for them the same office that the human mind does for man; that this principle is free to act in view of motives and premises; and that it is ample in measure to enable each animal, within his sphere of action, to preserve his life and govern his conduct. This conclusion seems necessarily to follow from their possession of the organs of sense, from their manifestation of the appetites and passions, and from their ability to perceive, to renicmber, to reason, and to will. And in the third and last place, as we are unable, in similar specific acts, to find any difierence in kind between the manifestations of perception, appetite and passion, memory, reason and will on the part of ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. 277 )e- nd jfi- its bbe apt .it ted. rery ikes icle. 1 its from phe- tated n the other aciple the free it it is in his rn his follow from IS, and reason, unable, in kind tppetite part of LS a mute, and the corrospondiii}^ manil'ostiitions on the part of a man, we are led to tlie conchision that the diflbronce is one of degree, and not of kind; and therefore that the principle from whicli they emanate is tlie same in kind, but bestowed in dift'crent meats- ure, to adapt each si)ecies to its particular mode of life. This theory, when rightly considered, is . .either novel nor subversive of moral truth. The general intelligence of mankind, which embodies, in a greater degree than is usually supposed, the highest sense of the human understanding, never adopted the spec- ulations of the metaphysicians with reference to the endowments of the inferior animals. On the con- trary, it has ever been disposed to recognize in them the possession of a rational, thinlcing principle, as free to act as the mind of man. To this view later writers are drawing sensibly nearer. Among the number. Max Midler has quite recently put forth some very sensible observations. "I mean," he re- marks, "to claim a large share of what we call our mental faculties for the higher animals. These ani- mals have sensation, perception, memory, toill, and in- tellect— only we must restrict intellect to the inter- lacing of single perceptions. All these points can be proved by irrefragable evidence. * * * There are, no doubt, many people who are as much frightened at the idea that brutes have souls, and are able to think, as by 4he blue ape without a tail.' * * -^ It does not follow that brutes have no souls, because they have no human souls. It does not follow that the souls of men are not immortal, because the souls of animals are not immortal; nor has the major 'if a 278 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. H premiss ever been proved by any philosopher, nnmely, that the souls of brutes must necessarily be destroyed and annihilated by death. Leibnitz, who has defended the immortality of the human soul with stronger arguments than even Descartes, writes : ' I found at last how the souls of brutes and their sensations do not at all interfere with the immortality of human souls; on the contrary, nothing seems better to establish our natural immortality than to believe that all souls are imperishable."" To nearly the same efl'ect, Agassiz had previously expressed himself. "When animals fight with one another," he says, "when they associate for a common purpose, when they warn one another in danger, when they come to the rescue of one another, when they display pain or joy, they manifest impulses of the same kind as are considered among the moral attributes of man. The range of the passions is even as extensive as that of the human mind, and I am at a loss to perceive a dif- ference in kind between them, however much they may differ in degree, and in the manner in which they are expressed. * * * This argues strongly in favor of the existence in every animal of an im- material principle similar to that which, by its excel- lence and superior endowments, places man so much above animals. Yet the principle exists unquestion- ably, and whether it be called soul, reason, or in- stinct, it presents in the whole range o^ organized beings a series of phenomena closely linked together; and upon it are based not only the highest manifestar tions of mind, but the very permanence of the specific > Science of Language. Scribner's tu., ^ec. ix. p. 349. ANIMAL PSYCHOLOGY. 279 3d ed 5er at do lan to [hat ame iself. says, vhen ne to An or 18 are The at of adif- they |which •ongly j\ im- excel- much testion- or in- ;aiuzed rether; [nifestar jspecific 349. difFerencca which characterize every organism. Most of the arguments of philosophy in favor of the im- mortality of man apply equally to the pennanonce of this principle in other living beings."' With two or three further suggestions tiiis discus- sion will be concluded. It cannot be said that the views, herein presented, tend to lower the personal dignity of man; but, on the contrary, they rather serve to distinguish his position. His great superior- ity is abundantly assured by the bestowment of the highest structural organization, of the fullest mental endowments, and by the possession of articulate speech. The distance which separates him from the highest of the mutes is sufficiently immeasurable to relieve his pride from all sense of humiliation from the consciousness of sharing the principle of intelli- gence with the latter. Sidney Smith has touched this point with his satirical pen in the following lan- guage : " I confess I feel myself so much at Qase about the superiority of mankind — I have such a marked and decided contempt for the understanding of every baboon T have ever seen — I feel so sure that the blue ape without a tail will never rival us in poetry, paint- ing, and music, that I see no reason whatever that justice may not be done to the few fragments of soul and tatters of underittanding which they rany really possess." The mentil principle here derided, while its possession is admitted, has, nevertheless, the in- herent dignity of which a thinking principle cannot be divested. By his pre-eminent endowments, man stanas at the head of the animal kingdom, the great > Nat. Hist. U. S., i. 64. 280 TUG AMERICAN HEAVER. exotnplar of this principle, and neparated by a wide interval from its (jtlier posHOHHors. The separation in as marked and real as could be dewired. But it is doubt- ful whether he poHsewHes the sum of the powers of the princii)le called mind. It is precisely hero, as it seems to the writer, that God has revealed a feature in the plan of creation no' less wonderful than the original conception of a mental principle. Having called into existence this marvelous principle, and created a series of organic forms, He apportioned it r.mong them all in such measure as to adapt each individual being to the sphere of life in which he was designed to move. The widest possible range for the exercise and devel- opment of mind was thus provided. A full compre- hension of its powers and capacities must therefore be sought in its varied manifestations by the several species. It is not probable that the whole of its powers are possessed by any species : but rather that in their totality tjiey are to be found among the members of the animal kingdom as a whole. A true system of mental philosophy, therefore, cannot be developed until all the manifestations of this principle are com- prehended. The hiatus between man and the nearest species below him in the scale of intelligence is so wide as to disturb the symmetrical gradation of the several orders of animals. We can neither conjecture that some intermediate order has fallen out of existence, nor assume the permanent degradation of any existing species; but, on the contrary, it seems to have been a part of the original plan of creation that man should stand without a compeer or contestant, the indisputable head of the series of organic forms, and the recipient, ANIMAL rSVCIIOL(H;Y. 281 lie as bt- he rns the nal nto Ties L all gto lOve. evel- iipre- •efore veral owers their era of em of oped com- ipecies as to everal that stence, xisting been a ihould utable cipient, 'e in tlio InrgoMt nioasuiv, of tho ;_'il't of tlic nuMitul prin- ciple. Some explanation of his oxccssivi' HnpiTJority may bo found in tho progrosH ho has mudo sinco his emergonce from his primitive condition. Vov ages, the bounds of which are unknown, mankind woro im- mersed in a barbarism the depths of which can be but feebly conceived. They were without arts, with- out agriculture, without ilocks or herds, depending chielly upon fish, and tiie spontaneous fruits of the earth for subsistence. There are glimpses aflbrded to us, here and there, of a state of society in which the family relations were unknown, and in which violence and passion reigned supreme. The contrast between such a condition of mankind, and that of the present time, is so great that it is difficult to recognize in these primitive barbarians our lineal progenitors. Out of that condition man has struggled through a long and painful experience until he has been finally rewarded with the amenities of civilization. Language has been the great instrument of this progress, the power of which was increased many fold when it clothed itself in written characters. He was thus enabled to perpetuate the results of individual experience, and transmit them through the ages. Each discovery thus became a foundation on which to mount up to new discoveries. With the knowledge he has gained, and the elevation he has expeT'ienced, it is now diffi- cult to realize the low condition from which his line of advancement commenced. Portions of the human family are still found in the darkness of ignorance, and in the feebleness of mental imbecility; and yet, although the distance of their intellectual separation is very great, it is much less than that between the r- — 282 THE AMF.inCAN HKAVKK. Ml latter and tlic nuwt iiitcllij^t'iit of tlie Inlbrior animiils. The (lifU'rence oxjjrcs.soH tlu; Hupcriority of his Htnio- tural orjrimi/atlon and o'.' his mental ondowincnts. On tho other hand, can it he truly aflirincd that the inferior aninialN have heen stationary in their knowledge from the commencement of their exist- ence? This conclusion should not be over-hastily assumed. Within the period of human observation, their ])rogress has seemed to be inconsiderable — but yet not absolutely nothing. For example, dogs under training have developed special capacities, such as the pointer and the setter, and have transmitted them to their offspring. This shows not only progress, but that of so marked a character as to work a transform- ation in the characteristics of the animal. Many ani- mals, as the elephant, the horse, the bear, and even the hog — the type of stupidity — have been taught a variety of performances, under the stimulus of re- wards, of which they were previously ignorant. These examples, however, are less important than the knowledge acquired by undomesticated animals, and transmitted, as a part of their experience and knowledge, in the species in which they were ac- quired. Of this kind are the several varieties of the beaver lodge and dam, and the development and per- petuation of the idea of a beaver canal. When care- ful and patient investigation has been made of these several subjects, the results will materially modify, in all probability, our present impressions. Finally, is it to be the prerogative of man to uproot and destroy not only the masses of the animal king- dom numerically, but also the great body of the spe- cies? If the human family maintains its present hos- ^B ANIMAL rSTCIIOUKiY ••Oil uproot 111 king- |the spe- jnt bos- tile attitude towfinl tlio muteH, ninl IncroaH-H i'l nunilxTH and in civilization at the proH«'nt ratio, ^nv, Hoveral centurion to come, it is plain to l»e Heen tl. it many siHicies of aninialH niUHt lx» extirpated I'roin the earth. An arre8t of the progress of the human race can alone prevent the dismemherment and destruct'. n of a large portion of the animal kingdom. Domestica- tion or extermination is the alternative already offered not alone to species, hut to families and orders of ani- mals. It may he that this result was never intended in the councils of Providence. It is not unlikely that God has adjusted a Imlance among tlu? several orders of animals which cannot be overthrown except at the peril of the aggressor; and that in some mysterious way this balance is d -stined to be preserved. The present attitude of man toward the mutes is not huch, in all respects, as befits his superior wisdom. Wo deny them all rights, and ravage their ranks with wanton and unmerciful cruelty. The annual sacri- fice of animal life to maintain human life is frightful, if considered only with reference to its excess beyond our rea.^onable wants. When the Creator made man omnivo)'ou8, He designed his use of animal food. It is not S'3ntimentalism but rather sense, to say that he should exercise the right with reason and forbearance. When we claim that the bear was made for man's food, we forget that man was just as much made to be food for the bear; and that our right to eat the bear rests upon no higher sanction, than his coequal right to feast upon our flesh if he overcomes in battle. Man's do- minion over the mutes is in virtue of his superior endowments; but it is equally clear that the great Author of existence designed the happiness of the 284 THE AMERICAN BEAVER. smallest and least endowed of all His creatures as ^completely and as absolutely as He did the happiness of man. If we recognize the fact that the mutes pos- sess a thinking, and reasoL'ing, and perhaps an im- mor^^^al principle, our relations to them will appear to us in a different, and in a better light. (I j^PPENDIOES. DR. W. W. ELY'S NOTES ON CHAPTER II. SAMUEL HEARNE'S ARTICLE ON THE BEAVER. From Hearne's Journey, dc. Lond. ed. 1795, p. 226. BENNETT'S ARTICLE ON THE BEAVER. From Oardena and Menagerie. Zoolog. Soc'ty. Quadrupeds. I. 153. (285) ITOTE. \; The annexed articles by Hearne and Bennett, Appendices B and C, are the best and most authentic extant upon the beaver. They have been made the foundation of the later accounts of this animal which are found in the Encyclope- dias, and in current works on Natural History. It was their brevity, and consequent in' ompleteness, which induced the pablicatioD of this work, for the purpose of furnishing a more detailed exposition of the habits of the beaver, and of his ar- tificial erections. (286) Jices I the later ilope- their I the more lis ar- ^ H s ^ s i: %> '^ JfiJ •« !^ u 5^ i! i. -2 OQ S IS 3 288 APPENDICES. II. Differences between the European and the American Beavers. If naturalists have found it difficult to agree as to the pioper classification of the beaver, they have been scarcely less troubled to decide whether the beavers of the Old and the New World con- 8ti<^ute one or more species. Some reference to this subject might be expected in a work like the present; and in order to limit the discussion I propose to examine only the views given by Dr. Brandt, as being the latest and most elaborate, and probably the most conclusive, that can be adduced in favor of the diversity of species. In a scries of essays published in the " Memoires de I'Academie de St. Petersbourg," Brandt has (liscus.sed many questions relating to the beaver with great ability and thoroughness of investiga- tion. His conclusions on the point before us are expressed in the following summary : " 1. From the investigations of Kuhl, Oken, and previously of Brandt and Ratzeburg, no outward characteristic appears afford- ing evidence of a specific difference. " 2. That in respect to the relative size of the body, the Ameri- can beaver, from previous experiences, does not differ from the European in any essential particular, and probably not at all. "3. That in respect to the relation of the head-, ear-, foot-, and tail-formation, no distinctive characteristics have yet been dis- covered. "4. That, on the other hand, by the comparison of eight skulls of the European beaver, with five skulls of beavers from the northwest coast of America, manifold constant differences, in part very striking, become apparent between the beavers of the Old and New World. "5. That many of the differences in these skulls involve also variations in the external structure. " 6. That, finally, the well-known histological variation in the castor sacs, which exists between the beavers of the Old and the New World, and also the difference in the appearance of their secretion, seem to establish a specific difference between the two.'" P. 62. Excluding then, as we may do, all but the two points named, DR. W. W. ELY S NOTES ON CHAPTEK II. 289 the and Uis- also in t\ie and the )f their named, viz., \'ie differences observed in the skull, and in the eastoreum organs, it remains to inquire whether these variations are con- stant and essential, and such as charactc;ize spCLios, or only vari'jties. The fact that the beavers of the Old and the Now World present certain points of difference in the skull formation is not to bo de- nied, and the attempt haa been made to eliminate those which are considered unessential from those which possess an invariable character in the two races, so as to establish jusi. grounds for the specific distinction. It is important to realize the tendency to variation which exists in the cranial structures, and I tlunefore quote from Brandt, from an article "TTjion the variation of par- ticular bones of the Beaver Skull," op. cit. p. GT. "If we have the opportunity of comparing with each other a large number of skulls of one and the same species, we not unfre- quently learn, on closer inspection, that uo one of them agrees perfectly with the others, but that all show more or less striking variations. These variations are often so considerable, that if we thus examined but two or three skulls, we should have no hesi- tancy in deciding, according to the prevailing method of determ- ining zoological species, that there was a specific difference in the animals to which such skulls belonged. The examination of a larger number of beaver skulls convinced me how erroneous would be a conclusion drawn from the examination of a small number of specimens. "The following remarks, therefore, have only for their object to name the variations which I have seen occur in the skulls of the species Castor, and to show that it is only by snveral, or better, by many specimens of one and the same species, that we can with any degree of certainty determine the boundaries of such species." In the coraparison.s made by Brandt of European and American beaver skulls, he refers to eight of the former, and five of the lat- ter variety. We have, in our collection, over ninety skulls of the American beaver from the region near Lake Superior, and through the kindness of Prof James Hall, of the New York State Mu- seum, and Prof Spencer F. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, I have had the opportunity to examine skulls from other American localities, in all over one hundred specimens. Prof Baird has 19 290 APPENDICES. also favored ruo with a Euronean skull, No. 65G4, from the SmithsoBian Inf>titution.' By conipariag the skulls of this extensive sories with the de- scriptions given by Brandt in the following article, I find that many more resemblances may be traced between the European and the American beaver than he has observed, thus reducing the amount of constant differences between the two varieties. We give the translation of the whole of his article in which the two kinds of skulls are compared, adding to the sections the results obtained by an examination of the skulls of the American series referred to above. " Memoires de I'Acaderaio de St. Petersbourg, VI. Serie, p. 53. " § 1. Superior aspect of different beaver skulls. " If we examine the skull of the European and of the American beaver, we notice the following special differences: " I . The portion of the frontal bone lying between the arches of the eyebrows, in all the European skulls is shorter and broader, much broader than long; but in the American, narrower and somewhat longer (quite as broad as long) ; so that the middle transverse diameter of the anterior portion of the frontal bone — that part lying between the eyes — is in the American skulls nearly or quite as long as the arch of the eyebrows ; but in the European it appears longer than this." . This is true generally of the American skulls; but in six speci- mens the average length of the eyebrow portion is 81'":], 'md the average vjridth of the middle portion is 1" 08'"^, being an excess of width of 26'"|. " 2. In the European skulls the arches of the eyebrows are shorter, and their posterior tubercles, opposite the highest point of the malar bone, are strongly developed. In the American, on the contrary, the posterior eyebrow processes, only indicated, sometimes scarcely indicated at all, or at least but slightly devel- oped, can be seen back of the highest point of the malar. The anterior eyebrow process is in all the European skulls likewise stronger than in the American." The highest point of the malar in American skulls is in advance of the posterior processes; but in one skull (No 20) it is on a line > I am also indebted to Prof. Baird for the use of several works, relating tu (he beaver, from tiie Smidisouiun Institutiou. DR. W. W. ELY S NOTES ON CHAPTER II. 201 le le- lat lan the lich the icaa 1.53. rican hesof aader, T and [Qiddle jone — skulls ia the speci- % 'iud |eing an )W3 are jt point hcan, on idicated, ly devel- Lr. The [likewise advance Ion a line L rclatiug with those procosses, as in tho European variety. In tlit> older and larger American .skulls, i)()tli pmeesses are xtroniriy developed, particularly tlie anterior. In many .skulls tlie posterior proeesses are a.s strongly marked as in the European skull. In the young New York skull they arc even stronger tlian in the young and larger European skull. "3. The snout, measured from the inferior orhital opening to the inferior corner of the nostril in two Euro|.ean skulls of ecpial size (Nos. 50 and 186 of the Kiew Col.), is hroader and somevvliat longer than in an American skull of ecpial size in the Academic Museum. " 4. The nasal bones show the greatest variations. Their length in all the European is much above one-third the length of tlie skull, measured from the incisor teeth to the crista occipitalis ; while, on the contrary, in the three larger of the American skulls the length of the nasal bones is only a little if any (»ver one-third, and the smallest not even one-third the length of the .skull. The nasal bones of the si.x older skulls lying before me of the European beaver are therefore longer, and extend more or less far poste- riorly, i.e. ra^re or less beyond the anterior prominence of the arch of the eyebrows, so that they (the nasal bones) lie with their posterior borders nearly or quite opposite the middle of the mar- gins of the orbits. In a young Polish beaver (No. 57 of the Kiew Col.) they reach, however, only to the anterior third of the orbital ring (note — our Caucasian skull can serve as an example of strong lengthening of the nasal bonq^) — and in our young Lap- land beaver they lie nearly as in our California beaver skull, op- posite only the circumference of the anterior border of the orbital ring. In none of the five American skulls, lying before me, on the contrary, do the nasal bones extend beyond the anterior prominence of the eyebrows In nearly all the skulls of the European beaver, compared with the five American ones lying before me, the nasal bones are in form longer in the middle and posterior, however, in general narrower, so that their breadth in their middle varies between one-fourth and one-fifth of their length, while in our five American skulls the breadth of their middle portion attains to between one-third and one-fourth of their length. Although the nasal bones of the American beaver are thus on the whole broader, still they vary less in this respect than in their lesser length. The external border of the nasal 292 APPENDICES. bones of tliu Europcun boavcr is not sc strongly curved as in the American. Two of tiio European slvuils, however, approach quite to the American in tiiis respect. The superior surface oi tlic anterior half of the nasal bones is in six of the European skulls pretty plane; in two of the others, on the contrary (Xos. 51 and 1955 of the Kiew Col.), as in all the live American, it is strongly convex. In regard tr thj character (or relation) of the nasal bones, there re.iiains, iherefore, in consequence of the pre- cediii'? roma; k^, only their mi>ro considerable length in compari- son with the skull as a mark of the European beaver; since the greater lengthening po.steriorly of the .uisal bones cannot be so rigo-ously proven in all European beavers, especially not in our Lapland specimens. It is possible, however, that the nasal bones are less prolonged posteriorly in younger animals than in full- grown, so that '11 this way the full-grown European miglit be recognized by its posteriorly prolonged nasal bones. Confirm- atory of this view are the following facts : 1. That in all of the six old skulls lying before me of European beavers, the posterior ex- tremities of the nasal bones reach more or less far posteriorly, and that this happens in a young skull of the Kiq,w Collection (No. 57), the length of which is tour lines greater than that of the one from Lapland ; aid 2, that iu one very young American skull, the npsal bones extend backward somewhat less relatively than in the full grown." It is in respect to the nasal bones that the greatest diflFerence has been observed between the European and the American beavers. The most striking obvious diB'erence being the back- ward extension of the nasals in the European variety. In ex- treme cases, their posterior margins are found behind the middle of the margin of the orbital rii.g; and over the anterior margin of the upper molars — a po'nt probably never reached by cie nasals iu the American skull; but this feature of the European skull is not constant. Brandt has not found it in the Polish and the Lapland beaver, and he expressly yields the point as to its hcxuji', a characteristic mark of the European variety; it canaot, he says, "be rigorously proven in all Enropem skulls." In the New York t^kull the nasals are elongated as re^jresented in the Polish skull. It does not appear that the lengthening of the nasals in the American skull is invariably due to age — since their proportional length, in some young skulls, perhaps equals DR. W. W. ELY S NOTES ON CHAPTER II. 2!) 3 ch OT an 51 , is the jrc- ari- the (C so I our >ones fuU- [»t bo nfirm- be six lor cx- viorly, lection that o{ lerican atively fereijce letican back- In ex- I margin by ii*6 luropean Jisb and IS to its cauuot, In the in the of the .. since Lg equals that of older speclmona. The form of theso bones, i.e. their width and convex outer margin, ditter iiinoh in American speci- mens. Having examined this subject with mueli earc, Brandt eoncluden in respect to the nasal bones, that tlicro remains "trnhj their more conaiderable leiKjlh in cumparinon with the sktill an a mark of the Europnin beaver." I have carefully examined over one hundred skulls in reference to this point, the measurements l)cing made with callipers, the length being estimated from the inferior border of the intermax- illary to the occipital crest in the medii-n line. In six American skulls the average length is 5" 39'")^. The average length of the nasals is 1" 80'"j, an excess of 13'"^ over one-third the length of the skull. In three skulls having an average length of 4" 42'", the length of the nasah is 1" 58'"^, making the excess over oue- third 34'". In seven skulls whose length respectively is 5" 10'", 3" 95'", 5" 10"', 5" 13"', 4" 94'", 5" 13'", 5" 17'", the excess of length of the nasals over one-third the length of the skull is (j3"', 34"', 30'", 42'", 40"', 51"', 47'". In the New York skull. No. 1072. in which the backward pro- tection of the nasals resembles some of the E'.iropean skulls, the excess over one-third is but 11'". In the European .skull. No. 0504, in which the backward projection of the nasals appears to have its maximum, this excess is 29'", which is much less than in many American skulls. We must conclude, therefore, that the back- ward projection of the nasals, and their greater proportionate length as compared with American skulls, are not constant and distinctive features of the European variety. "5. The frontal portion of the lachrymal bone of the American beaver is more triangular, posteriorly twice as broad as ante- riorly, and smaller than in the European ; it is also nearly limited to the space betwetn the malar and frontal bones; since it im- pinges only with its anterior border- like narrow end upon a small process of the upper jaw, or even only approaches it. In the beavers of the Old World, however, the larger, more quadrangu- lar, anteriorly and posteriorly equally broad frontal portion of the lachrymal bone lies not only between the laalar and frontal bones, but is united in similar extent equilaterally with the superior maxillarv," 294 APPENDICES. I find Amcrioiiii skulls in wliicli the upper rturfiKH* of tlin luchry- niul bone has thr qtiiulniti^iiiiir form, as broad nntorinrly as |tos- U>riorly,aiiil united an in tlu; KuroiK'an Hkuil, tollii- intt>nnaxillary, wiiilo in tiie greater number uf instances the desuriptiun aiiove given is found to be correct. '■ § 2. Ai'.terior aspect of the skull. "On tlu! closer study of tlio beaver skull anteriorly, wo learned that in all the examined skulls of the European beaver the nasal opening appears triangular, iideriorly narrow, and hence more or less pointed; while tl'.e lateral nuirgins, raised like a crest, and bounding it inferiorly, approached each other ot a more or less acute angle. In the Arne>i''an akull.s, on the contrary, the na.sal opening has a (piadrangular form, and appears below only a little narrower than aliove; while the lower ends of the crest-like ridges of the lateral margins are nearly parallel, and curved inward but Httlo." The tendency to the quadrarigular form of the nasal opening in the American l)eavcr, and to the triangular form oct uf \\w lu'iivt-r skull. "A c(»i»|)iirirtoii ill prolilf uf tin* two Kiir,Mil lino tlniwu from the untt'rior oxtiviuil y of tho iittsiil boiu! lo tho crista occij)- italis, shows no ossciitiiil (lifffn-nco betwoon tho Ainoricun (of Kiiprianow) and tho two European .skuilrt of corrospoiidiii^ sizo. Tho sniiK! result is also furnished by a ooiuparison of all thu other Kuropeiin and Ainorieait skulls. "2. The zyfj;oniati(! process of the superior iiui.xillary iippoars on tho external surface of that i)orti«»n lyinj? up near the superior maxillary process of tho malar bone, in the European at least half as broad, generally more than Iialf as broad as the adjacent end of the superior maxillary process of the malar bon. Tin* riil>rt' InrnnMl hy the piirictnl urnl frootiil, l))*liiriil and Im'Iow iIm' |ni-i|crii)r tijlHTcIc of tlio i'y«'*)r()\v iirclics, in tho Ku- ropctui nktill, in more (■niisiilcraltlf, uud ciittTs into coinbitiatinn with a rid^it cluviitinf^ itself out uf thu h(|Uuuioiis portion of tliu t(>ni|Minil, wliicii rid^u iu tliv Aaicric-tui in tJ^iMiurully wanting, ur only indifiitrd.'' Hrundt'H lur^ost Anu>ricaii skull was hnt a modiuiii sizod ono, iiiciisiirin}^ f)" 21'" liy ;{" CO'". In an Am. Till! Iiook-fornicd 'H'occss of tlio z^'goinatic proccrts of tho toinponil l)ont' lif.s with its anterior point, in tho AmiTican l)i;avor, hardly or only a littlo ix'liind th«' anterior iiorder of tho touiporal fossa, whilo in tho Kiiro|)('aa lutavor it always lies nioro or lo^a ht'hind it. In tho Enrojioan boavor tho ond of tho zygomatic process of the touiporal bone appears on the whole more ap- proached to tho occiput and osseous auditory moiUus." According to my own ol)S(!rvatlon, the hook-formed process referred to above Is in the American beaver longer than in tho European. Wo have but ono or two skulls in which it appears somewhat shortened, without boeoiniiig as short as in the Eu- ropean variety. With respect to the relations of tho zygomatic process and tho auditory tube, tho American skulls are variable, and strong resemblances could undoubtedly bo found to the Eu- ropean form. "7. In tho American beaver there extends downward from tho posterior angle of the posterior end of the parietal bono a more or le.^s triangular, somewhat curved process, which pro- ceeds between the posterior crucial process of the squamous por- tion of the temporal bono and the squamous portion of tho occip- ital bone. In consequence of this but slightly indicated process in many European beavers, as in our Rolaer, the posterior and upper angle of the squamous portion of the temporal bone of the American beaver is generally more rounded, but in tho European, triangular and shorter." I have found but a single and partial exception to the above statement. In an American skull. No. 2031, S. I., there is an exact c'irresitundcnce between tho above-described processes and those of the European beaveV, No. 65<)4, on the left side ; on the right side the American skull shows a faint indication of the DR. \y. W. ELYS NOTES OX rilAITEU II. from ho no a b pro- is por- occip- irocesa ior and of the ropean, above 19 an sea and on the of the iitu'ini pnic*-S!*or thi> piiriotal, uiul ii slight Itiit luori' uIiiiho dovoU ii|)nit'iit ii|i|)riirs ulrto in tlii< Kiiri)|M>iui. "8. In tlu! iMdivor of the Nvw World tlio nid of the eor;)niil proct'Ms i)f \\w lower juw in r|ieun. In nil live lower jaws of tlu) Anierieun beuver tlio anterior openin<^ of ;lie eatmllH inlra-maxillaris lien untler the alveolus of the anterii*r inferior molar, in the Kuro|)eun l)«>avur somewhat before the siime." In a hir^e pro|)ortion of eases the coronal process of the lower Jaw in the Anieriean heaver prest!nts tlu; hooked form. It is some- times very much hooked. The description given (»f the anterior mental foramen corrcHponds with my ohaervations. "§4. Posterior aspect of the skull. "Tho (fom^'al form of the squamous portion of the occipital bone shows no essential variations. The middh; portion of ita posterior surface shows in tho American as well as in tho Eu- ropean a shallower or deeper, broader or narrower groove, or a single, sometimes even doubled longitudinal ridge. " The occipital foramen, on the contrary, in all the European skulls, is narrower than in the American, but appears extended further upward than in the latter, so that its upper margin is nearly on a level with the base of the zygomatic process of the temporal bone, while in the American .skulls the superior margin of the occipital foramen lies about opposite the inferior border of thn zygomatic process. Correspondingly with tiie lirst-describ^d relation of the occipital foramen the squamous portion of the oc- cipital bone over the occipital foramen appears in the European skulls lower than in the American — an appearance especially striking in the two skulls of equal size with the American skull of Kuprianow " If we examine a large number of skulls of the American beaver, the great variety of forms presented by the occipital foramen ap- pears remarkable. It is sometimes low and broad, again a rounded arch, and in other instances shows the high triangular shape peculiar to tho European variety. Tiiis form is found fre- quently in young, and occasionally in old skulls. " § 5. Inferior aspect of the European and American skulls. " Tho groove occurring on tho inferior surface of tho base of the occiput so characteristic of the species Cantor, from three to four lines deep, six to seven lines broad, posteriorly six to eight 298 APPENDICES. lines long, is in all the European skulls lying before me larger, deeper, and more rounded, and inclosed by ro>inded margins, pos- teriorly particularly strongly curved, so that it appears three to four lines deep, six to eight linos long, and posteriorly six to seven lines broad. In the same skulls we find it more or less widened back of its middle portion, while in the American s'k'^]h it appears smaller in comparison with its breadth, longer and narrower, not widened back of its middle point; at its posterior end even more or less narrowed ; and possesses, in addition to its more lengthened form, nearly straight margins and less depth. Its longitudinal diameter is about six lines, its greater transverse dlan-oter four to five lines, and its depth two and a half to three lines." Brandt has well described the basilar cavity as it appears in the American, compared with the European beaver. Its form, however, in the American beaver, is subject to variation, being Bonr us one, there is, in addition to the principal ^land,two smaller ones, which may be separated, each having^ its communication with the tube which furnishes the outlet; in each cavity are hairs loose or growing from its surface, and the « ''er eavitie.-^ are sometimes filled with them. The walls of the oil sacs are much thicker than the castoreum sacs, and contain many follicles of considerable size. The cavities contain a thick, oily, creamy fluid. From the larger cavity, about two drachms were obtained, having, when recent, a faint odor of castoreum. This secretion, after stanTES ON CllAI'TKK II. 305 orifito, would Ijc rotractod and concoahnl l)y tli« nyinpliic, which would be noarcr tho ('xtoruiil orifico. The clitDris is siuall, dim- pled, and surrounded with a prepuce, and the nynipha; are thin, composed of a memi)rane similar to that of the eastoreum sacs, their lateral portions extending downward in the directi()M of tho opening of the oil sacs R. Wagner a.^serts that the nyniphie are wanting in tho inferior mammalia, hut Cuvier .^ays more correctly: "Le fait est que les nymphes existent ehez plusieur:.4 Rongeurs." Viii. 256. The orifice of the urethra is half an inch behind the clitoris. The urethra and the vagina are each 4" long. The latter is stiongly muscular, and smooth within. The bladder, which lies in front of, and conceals the uterus, is contracted, thick, and rugose. Thj position of the ureters is seen in the figure. Tho uterus is 1^" long, and its vaginal extremity is lobulatcd. It is divided into two cavities by a (inn se})tMP», each cuvity opening into the vagina by a separate orifice, 'fht I'allopian tubes are 9^" long. The ovaries are small, oval, f 7'" long, 32"' in width. It is probable, though I cannot affirm it, that pregnancy in the beaver is Fallopian, as in the rat and the rabbit. Castoreum. — The difiference in the eastoreum as furnished by the European and the American beavers has long been known to chemists and physicians ; the Russian castoreum being most esteemed as a medicine. The fresh specimens of American cas- toreum which I have seen, diflfer in amount, appearance, and con- sistence. The following are Brande's analyses of this substance : CANADIAN CASTOB. Volatile oil 100 Resin 13 86 Castorin 0-38 Albumen 0-05 Osmazomo 0-20 Carbonate of lime 33-62 Other salts 2-82 Mucus 280 Animal matter like horn 2-30 Membrane 2000 Moisture and loss '?'L-8'i 99-30 BUSSIAN CASTOR. Volatile oil 2-0 Resin 58-6 Castorin 2-5 Cholesterin 1-2 Albumen 1-6 Gelatin 10-4 Osmazome 2-4 Matter soluble in alcohol 1-6 Carbonate of lime 2-6 Other salts 2-4 Membrane 3-0 Moisture and loss 11-7 1000 il so 306 APPENDICES. Tim European eastoreum in supposed to contain a Iar;?(;r propor- tion (if tilt' volatile! oil, oastorin, and resin, ami proi)al)Iy its supcrioi*- ity as u niodicine depends up(jn the resinoid element. A specimen of eastoreum which I obtained from a male American beaver more than a year ago waf at first, of a light yellow color, soft, and very adl' 've. / lie ; resent tim'; the col(»? is the same tx- copt iieio ii :- hii-, a.K !> to the fill', which has changed the surface to a <'ai's Kv /?, One hundred parts of this eastoreum lost (ifty-six pan loi tu" alcohol. Of the residuum, thirty- three parts dissolved with rvescenco iu diluted hydrochloric acid, affording evidence of a large amount of carbonate of lime. The remaining eleven parts appeared to be chiefly animal matter, but it was not critically examined. The alcoholic solution on cool- ing showed no trace of castorin. Mixed with water the alcoholic solution became milky. On filtration and thorough drying of the filter there resulted 41 parts of resin. \ APPENDIX B. Samuel Hearne^s Article on /lie. Heaver. From Samuel Hearne's "Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort to the ' Northern Ocean." London: 4to., 1795, ch. vii. p. 226. The beaver being so plentiful, the attention of my companions was chiefly engaged ol them, as they not only furnished delicious food, but their skins proved a valuable acquisition, being a prin- cipal article of trade, as well as a serviceable one for clothing, etc. The situation of the beaver houses is various; where the beavers are numerous, they are found to inhabit lakes, ponds, and rivers, as well as those naiTow creeks which connect the numerous lakes with which this country abounds ; but the latter are generally chosen by them where the depth of water and other circumstances are suitable, as they have then the advantage of a current to carry wood and other necessaries to their habitations, and be- cause, in general, they are more diflBcult to be taken than those that are built in standing water. There is no one particular part of a lake, poud, river, or creek, SAMDEi. HEARNES ARTICLE ON THE HEAVKH. 30" rs 3S ly es to »e- se ik, nf wMch tlu» beaver nmke choiee for ImiMinir their lutiises mm in preference to anotlier; for Miey sometimes ItiiiM on iMtinls, smue- tirne. in tlie liollow of a lojr. and often on suiull isiatnls; tlitv uKvuy.s elioos( , li wevor, these jiarts that have such a depth of wate'* -IS will resist the frost in winter, and prevent it from freez- ing to th • hottoni. The Ijeavcrs that buihl their houses on small rivers or ereeks, in which the water is lialiU; to he drained off when tlie liack sn|»- plies are (h'ied up hy tiie frost, are wonderluily tanijiit l»y in-tinct to pro' ' 'e aijfninst that evil l)y makinjr a dam (juite n 'niss the river, ai v: convenient distance from their houses. ''' 's 'ook upon as the most curious piece of workmanship that "s per' 'led by the beaver; not so much for the neatness of th • >rk .^ for its strength and real service; and at the same t' '{. >. --covers such a degree of sagacity and foresight in the anin'a! o, ipp-oach- ing evils, as is little inferior to that of the human species, and is certainly peculiar to these animals. The beaver dams differ in shape according to the nature of the place in which ^hey arc built. If the water in the river or creek has but little motion, the dam is almost straight; but when the current is more rapid, it is always made with a considerable curve, convex toward the stream. The materials made use of in these dams are drift-wood, green willows, birch and poplar, if they can be got; also mud and stones, intermixed in such a manner as must evidently contribute to the strength of the dam; but in the.se dams there is no other order or methctl observed, except that of the work being carried on with regular success, and all the parts being made of equal strength. In places which have been long frequented by beavers, undis- turbed, their dam, by frequent repairing, becomes a solid bank, capable of resisting a great force both uf water and ice ; and as the willow, poplar, and birch generally take root and shoot up, they, by oegrees, form a kind of regular-planted hedge, which I have seen in some places so tall, that birds have built their nests among the branches. Though the beaver which build their houses in lakes, and other standing waters, may enjoy a sufficient quantity of their favorite element without the assistance of a dam, the trouble of getting wood and other necessaries to their habitation without the help of a current, must, in some measure, counterbalance the I 308 APPENDICES. other atlvuntui^t's which arc n-apcd from HJich a sitiiiition ; for it must Im; ubsurvcil thiit the hcavffr whicli Imild in riv«!rH un!) iilwiivd enttTod at tlirir t)\vn door without having any fmilnr nmiiuctioit with their iifi^hlxtrM tliun a friendly ii:t<; uml to join their united l;il»or,s in ereetini^ their separate iiahilalions, und building llit-ir dams when required. It is dillieult to say whether their inleresi on other occasions was any way reeipr >- eal. Tiie Indians of my |iariy killed twelve old leavers, and twenty-fivo young and half-grown ones, out of the houses ahovc mentiuniid ; and on exantiuation found that several had escaped tiieir vigi'aneo, and eould not lie taken hut at the expense of ittoro trouble than would l)e autlicleul to tuko double the number in a lesis ditrieult nituation.' Travellers who assert that the beaver have had doors *■> their houses, one on the land side, and the other next th(» water, seem to be less a(!t)uainted with these animals than others who assign them an elegant suite of apartments. Sueh a proceeding wotdd be quite contrary to their manner of life, and at the sam(( time would render their houses of no use either to proleet them from their onoiuicd, or guard them against the extreme of cold in winter. The quiquehatches or wolvoreens, are great enemies to the beaver; and if there were a ])a.s.sage into their houses on the land side, would not leave one of them alive w'.ierever they came. .1 cannot refrain from smiling when I read the accoiuits of dif- ferent authors who have written on the economy of tiie.se uni- mals, as there seems to be a contest between them who shall mostexceed in Qction. Buttho compiler of the " Wondcrsof Nature and Art" seems, in my opinion, to have rtucceeded le.-s in this re- spect; as ho has not only collected all the fictions into which other writers on the subject have run, but has so greatly im- proved on them, that little remains to be added to his account of the beaver besides a vocabulary of their language, a code of their laws, and a sketch of their religion, to make it the most complete natural history of that animal which can possibly be offered to the public. There cannot be a greater imposition, or indeed a gro.sser insult on common understanding, than the wish to make us believe the 1 The ditliculty here alluded to was the nuiuberless vaults the beaver bad in the sides of the pond, uud the immeasu tiiickuess ot the house iu some parts. I' III I I :}l() AITKN DICKS. HtoricH (if soiiir of I lie workn iiscriltcd tti the Ih'iiv<'t a very iiMxIn-atc hliuiv oC uinifrslaiKliiif? \h Burcly siiilirit'iit to ^iiai'd liiiii uptiiiHt ^-iviti^ credit t.i Mirli inar- vflloiis talrM, however Hiiioothly tliey may l)o told, or however l)oldly tlicy may l»e asserted by the romancing traveller. To deny that the l)eav(!r is possessed of a very eonsidenil>iede- gree of saffaeity would lie as alisuid in me as it is in tliese authors \vho tiiitdi they cannot alhtw them too mueii. i shall willingly grant them their full share: but it is impossible for any one to conceive how, or by wiuit means, a Iicttvcr whose full height when standing eriM-t, doi-s not exceed two feet and a half, or three feet at most, and whose fore paws are not much larger tlian a lialf- crown piece, can "drive stakes as thiclt as u man's leg into the ground tiiree or four feet deep." Tlieir "wattling tiiese stakes * with twigs," is e(|ually absiu'd ; and tlieir "plastering the inside of tlieir ln)uses with a comi>osition of mud and straw, and swim- ming with mud and stones on their tails," are still more incredible. The form and size of the animal, notwithstanding all its sagacity, will not admit of its performing such feats; and it would bo as impossible for a beaver to use its tail as a trowel, except on tlie surface of the ground on which it walks, as it would have been for Sir James Thornhill to have painted the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral without the assistance of scaffolding. The joints of their tail will not admit of their turning- it over their tracks on any occasion whatever, as it has a natural inclination to bend downwards; and it is not without some considerable exertion that they can keep it from trailing on the ground. This being the case, they cannot .sit erect like a squirrel, which is their com- mon posture, particularly when eating, or when they are clean- ing themselves, as a cat or squirrel does, without having their tails l)ont forward between their legs; and which may not im- properly be called their trencher. So far are the beaver from driving stakes into the ground when building their houses, that they lay most of the wood crosswise, and nearly horizontal, and without any other order than that of leaving a hollow or cavity in the middle ; when any unnecessary branches project inward, they cut them off with their teeth, and throw them in among the rest to prevent the mud from falling SAMIIKL HEAHNKS AKTICLK O.V TlIK IlKAVKU. -Ul tliroiitrli tlic roof. It w a niir^tiik)')) notiDri that thu woodwork is flwt com|>h'(i;ry other deviation from the general ruxi is undoubtedly owing to some particular disorder. BENNETTS ARTICLE ON THE BEAVER. 317 ling |y * for :tra lore the lese the land ing APPENDIX C. Bennett's Article on the Beaver. From "The Gardens and Menagerie of the Znolofiical Society Delineated." Quadrupeds, Vol. i. p. 153. Published in 1835. THE BE.WER. {Castor Fiber, Linn.) Among the numerous, widely dispersed, and prolific tribes of animals which compose the extremely natural order, called by LinnsBUS and the writers of his school Glires, there are none perhaps which possess so many claims on our attention as the well-marked and circumscribed little group on the history of which we are about to enter. The beavers, in fact, interest us not only as furnishing a most valuable fur, and producing a pe- culiar secretion occasionally and advantageously eraplo}cd in medicine, but also as ofiFering the most remarkable of the few in- stances occurring among quadrupeds of that architectural instinct, so remarkably prevalent in the inferior classes, which impels them to construct their own habitations with materials selected fo'* the purpose, brought from a distance, and cemented together so a.- to form a regular and uniform structure. The first and most essential character of the order to hich they belong is obviously derived from the great develop it of their incisor teeth ; and this peculiarity in structure, w light naturally be expected, is connected with a peculiarity i.) iiabits eijually remarkable. So striking, indeed, is the prop- -ity to gnawing, which distinguishes these animals, that many ' zoolo- gists, of the French school especially, have thrown asi le older designation applied to them by Linnaeus, and ado {ted n its place the expressive name of Rongeurs or Rodentia. Of this faculty the beavers appear to exhibit the highest degree o' devel- opment; their powerful incisor teeth not only serving ihem to strip otT and divide the bark of trees, which forms their principal nutriment, but also enabling them, when urged by their instinct of construction, to gnaw through trunks of considera'ij' thick- ness, and thus to obtain tho timber of which they stand in need } • 1 II 318 APPENDICES. for the building of their iiabitations. These important organs contribute, tiierefore, in an especial manner, to supply them both with food and shelter. The incisor teeth of the beavers are two in number in each jaw ; they are broad, flat, and generally colored of a deep orange or almost chestnut brown anteriorly, and pass into acute angles on their posterior surface. Their extremities terminate externally in a cutting edge, and shelve considerably inward ; for the ante- rior surface being alone coated with enamel, and consequently offering the greatest resistance, is less easily worn down by the action to which tb(!y are exposed. Those of either jaw cor- respond exactly w ih their oppo.-^ites, and the form of the articu- lation of the lower jaw admitting of little or no lateral motion, their action is always from behind forward and vicevevHa. They have no true voo s, but are of equal thickness throughout, and are implanted with'n the jaw in sacs or capsules, which repro- duce them from the base as fasi as tiiey are worn down at the extremity. So strong a. tendency have iliey to increase by this process, that whenever one of the incisors of either jaw has been accident) )!y injvu'cd or .iestroyed, the opposite tooth, meeting with no resistance from its antagonist, is propelled forward by a continual enlargeuieni from the base to such an extent as to be- come at length perfectly monstrous. This mode of growth is common to the whole order, and the number of the incisor teeth is also tiie sr.i.ie in all the groups that compose it, with the excep- tion of the family of which the hare forms the type. The entire absence of canine teeth, leaving a vacant space of some extent between the incisors and the molars, is another char- acter which the beavers have in common with ail the Rodent an- imals ; but the structure of their molar teeth differs from that of any other group. These latter organs furnish indeed the best characters that have yet been employed for the separation of the Rongeurs into distinct and natural genera. In the beavers they are four on each side in either jaw, and their crowns present a flattened surface on which the lines of enamel are so disposed as to form three folds on the outer side and one on the inner in those of the upper jaw, while those of the lower offer an arrange- ment directly the reverse. They were formerly suspected by M. F. Cuvier, who has paid particular attention to the teeth of the mammiferous quadrupeds, to be destitute of proper roots, and to BENNETTS ARTICLE ON THE BEAVER. 319 iiicreaso from their l)Uf>c in tlie samo niiuuu'r us tiic incisors; hut he lias since candidly cunt'essed tijo err(»i' into which lie hatl been led by the inspection of a cranium in \vlii<'h they were not yet fully developed, and he now admits liiat in the adult animal they are furnished with true roots, and are euiiseijuently incapultle of receiving any addition to their grov/th when once completely formed. Their flattened crowns sullii-itmtly indicate that the food which they are intended to masticate is entirely vegetable. In the regularity of their line of prolile from the back (jf the head to the extremity of the nose, the lateral position of their diminutive eyes, the depth, oblicjuity, and obtuseiiess of their muscle, the vertical fissure of their ujiper lip, the softness and closeness of their fur, and the greater length and muscularity of tiieir posterior limbs, the beavers may be regarded as almost typical of the order to which thej belong. They e.\hil)it, how- ever, in their external form several .striking modifications peculiar to themselves. Of these, the most remarkable consi.sts in their tail, which differs in structure from that of ■ j(;({y, is broadly dilated, oval, flattened both above and below, covered at its thickened base alone with hair similar to that which invests the rest of the animal, but overlaid throughout the greater part of its extent with a peculiar incrustation wh'ch assumes the form <»f regular scales closely resembling those of fishes. The feet all terminate in five toes, those of the anterior extremities smaller and shorter than those of the posterior, and divided almost to the base, while the latter are united to their very tips by the inter- vention of a strong duplicature of the skin, which allows of their separation to a considerable extent, and forms a broad and i)al- mate\' prneuriiij; furrf. Frmn the jour- nals of thcsu two phiiii-(lctiiiii); ami niattcr-of-ftii't in<>ti \V)> sliall proimil to f^ivc tho principal facts with which they furnish us relative to the habits of the heaver in its native state ami to the various modes adopted by the hunters for possessiuj^ theinscilvcs of its valuable skin. The situations in which the beavers build are very various. Sometimes tln'V take; their abode in a pond or a lake, in which the water is tolerably uniform in height and pretty deep imme- diately under the bank ; but tluty generally make choice of a run- ning stream as more convenient for th(! conveyance of their ma- terials. They are also said to select in [)reference the northern Bide for the advantage of the .sun, and the bank of an island rather than that of the mainland, as affording them greater se- curity from tho attacks of their enemies. In this selection, how- ever, their instinct frequently misleads them, for they have been known to build in situations where they have been unable to pro- cure food, and where they have consecpiemly perished from star- vation, or to have fixed upon a stream which has been so swelled by the effects of a heavy thaw as to sweep away not only their magazine of provisions, but sometimes even their habitations. When the water in the stream is not sufficiently deep for their purpose, or is liable to be diiainLshed by the failure of the supply from above in consequence of frost, they commence their opera- tions by throwing a dam across it below tho part which they in- tend to occupy. In slow rivulets this is made nearly straight ; but where the current is strong, it is formed with a curve of greater or less extent, the convexity of which is turned toward the stream. The materials of which this dam is constructed con- sist of drift-wood, and the branches of willows, birch, and pop- lars, compacted together by mud and stones. The work is raised in the form of a mound, of considerable thickness at the base, and gradually narrowing toward the summit, which is made per- fectly level, and of tho exact height of the body of water which it is intended to keep up. Cartwright arlds that he Las frequently crossed the rivers and creeks upon these dams with only slightly wetting his shoes. The sticks which are used in their construc- tion vary in size from the thickness of a man's finger to that of his ankle, but are seldom larger unless where no others are to be V-, ^, inS> ^.^-^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) &^ ^/ Afif <^ K. 1.0 ■10 •^ Hit III 2.2 1/" llllll£ Hill 1.4 1.6 I.I 1.25 1 ■♦• Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SS0 (716)872-4503 »E3 %0 ^ 324 APPENDICES. pnu'iired. They an* mostly obtained from the neighboring woods, where thoy arc cut with a dexterity truly astonishing. A beaver, according to Cartwright, will lop oflf with its teeth at a single effort a stem of the thickness of a common walking-stick as cleanly as if it had been done by a gardener's pruning-knife. When compelled to have recourse to the larger trunks, they gnaw them round and round, always taking care that they shall fall in the direction of the water, in order as much as possible to save themselves carriage. Judging from the number of large trees sometimes cut down in a season, it would appear that the per- formance of this operation cannot occupy a very considerable time. As soon as the tree is felled they commence lopping off its branches, which, as well as the smaller trunks, they cut into lengths, according to their weight and thickness. These are dragged in their mouths, and sometimes on their shoulders, to the water side, where they are thrown into the stream, and towed with the current to their destination. Exactly the same materials are employed in the construction of their habitations. These are built either immediately beneath the bank, or, if the pool be shallow, at some little distance from it. They begin by hollowing out the bottom, throwing up the mud and stones around it, and intermingling them with such sticks as they can procure. The walls having been thus raised to a sufficient height, the house is covered in with a roof in the shape of a dome, generally emerging about four feet, but some- times as much as six or seven, from the water. The entrance is made beneath a projection which advances several feet into the stream with a regular descent, terminating at least three feet be- low the surface, to guard against its being frozen up. This is called by the hunters the angle, and a single dwelling is some- times furnished with two or more. Near the entrance, and on the outside of their houses, the beavers store up the branches of trees, the bark of which forms their chief subsistence during the winter ; and these magazines are sometimes so large as to rise above the surface of the water, and to contain more than a cart- load of provisions. In all these operations there appears to be no other concert or combination among the beavers than that which results from a common instinct impelling them to the performance of a common task. The assertion that they are superintended in their labors BENNETTS ARTICLE ON THE BEAVER. 325 by aa overseer, who gives notice to his workmen when to be at their posts by flapping with his tail upon the water, dividi^s them into parties for each several kinds of work, distributes their em- ployments, assigns their stations, and superintends the execution of his commands, is too absurd to require refutation. But there are many other statements regarding them equally untrue, although not at first sight so palpably iidiculous. Thus it is said that their tails are used by them as sledges for the c(jnveyance of their materials, a purpose for which the conformation of this ap pendage renders it highly improbable that it can serve, and which observation has proved to be performed in a very different man- ner. But not content with metamorphosing this organ into a sledge, our travellers have also made it a trowel, aiul have given very particular descriptions of the manner in which the beaver employs it in spreading the plaster, with which, according to their accounts, his work is overlaid. Unfortunately, however, it is equally unfitted by its structure for such an operation ; and the only organs employed in mixing up the mud with the rest of tiie materials, are the fore paws and the mouth. These, in fact, are the instruments with which all the labors of the beavers are effected; and it is suflBciently obvious that neither with tlieir assistance, nor indeed with the united powers of all their organs, could these animals drive stakes of the thickness of a man's leg three or four feet deep into the ground, or execute a variety oi other feats for which they have obtained general credit. The sticks and branches which they use, instead of being driven into the ground, are laid for the most part in a horizontal direction, and they are only prevented from floating away by the stones and mud which are brought up by the beavers in their paws from the bottom to be laid upon them, and which gradually become cemented into a firm and compact mass. All their work is performed during the night. Although the favorable nature or the situation may have induced many families to assemble in the same spot, they do not on that account carry on their operations in common; unless when a dam of large extent is to be built, when they usually unite their forces for its completion. Each family occupies itself exclusively on its own habitation, which has in general but one apartment. The idea of their houses being divided into several chambers, each allotted to its appro- priate purpose, may have originated from the fact of their some- 326 APPENDICES. times building by the side of a deserted dwelling, with which they occasionally open a communication. The families vary in the number of individuals of which they are composed, but sel- dom exceed two or four old ones, and twice as many young; the females producing once a year, from two to three or four at a birth, and the young ones generally quitting their parents at the age of three years, and seeking out or building a separate habita- tion for themselves. In summer-time they feed either upon the bark of trees or upon the green herbage and the berries which grow in their neighborhood; but in winter theii diet is almost restricted to the former article, of which they lay in a large stock previously to the setting in of the frost. From this store they cut away por- tions as their necessities require ; and after tearing ofiF the bark reject the wood, leaving it to float away with the current. Willow, poplar, and birch, are their favorite kinds, and the latter, accord- ing to Cartwright, renders their flesh "the most delicious eating of any animal in the known world." The root of the water-lily also afiFords them an occasional supply, and makes them very fat, but gives their flesh a strong and unpleasant flavor. It is not, however, for the delicacy of their flesh, but for the peculiar closeness of their soft and glossy fur, that a war of ex- termination is carried on by man against these peaceful and in- noxious beasts. That this fur was at an early period in great request for the manufacture of hats is proved by a proclamation issued in the year 1038, by which it was forbidden to make use of any materials therein except beaver stuft' or beaver wool. From this time the attention of the North American Indians has been incessantly directed toward these poor animals, and vast quanti- ties have in consequence been destroyed every year. Of the numbers thus sacrificed, and of the importance of the trade, some idea may be formed by the amount of the sales at various places and at difl'erent periods. In 1743 the Hudson's Bay Company alone sold 26,t50 skins; and 127,080 were imported into Ro- chelle. Upwards of 170,000 were exported fron. Canada in 1788; and Quebec alone, in 1808, supplied this country with 126,927, which, at the estimated average of eighteen shillings and nine pence per skin, would produce no less a sum than £118,994. The skin of the young or cub beaver is the most valuable, as being the darkest and the most glossy; and the winter coat is BENNETTS ARTICLE ON THE BEAVER. 327 far superior to the summer. The former season is consequently preferred fortaking them, and various means are adopted for the purpose. Sometimes tlie ice is cut throuj^h both above and l)e- low their dwellings, nets are thrown across, and the devoted animals are driven from their shelter by the breaking down of their houses, and compelled to enter the nets. Sometimes a number of holes are made in the ice, and they are in like manner driven from their habitations; when, as they are unable to remain imder water for any long time, they rise to the surface where the ice is broken, and are easily secured. Under these circumstances they will frequently take refuge in the holes in the banks, which serve them for summer retreats; but the experienced hunters readily detect the situation of these vaults by striking with their chisels on the ice, and always select such spots for making their apertures, in which they seldom fail of capturing their victims. In summer it is more usual to take them in their houses by what is termed staking them. For this purpose the hunters first make an aperture in the roof to ascertain the situation of the angle, and having adapted a number of stakes to the opening so as completely to blockade it, cover in the top, and leave the stakes on one side ready for use. They then drive the beavers from all parts of the pond or river by means of dogs; and when the terri- fied animals have succeeded in reaching their home, they replace the stakes before the entry, remove the temporary covering from the roof, and either take them alive, or spear them in their house. When the sheet of water which they inhabit is merely kept up by a dam, they are still more easily taken by letting oflf the water and leaving their huts completely dry. The gun is also some- times, but not very commonly used ; and log traps, baited with poplar sticks, occasionally add in a trifling degree to the havoc made among them. So little is known of the manners of the beaver in a domesti- cated state, that we feel a peculiar gratification in having it in our power to give the extremely interesting history of an ind'"idual which belonged to Mr. Brodloip, to whose kindness we are in- debted for the following statement : "The animal arrived in this country in the winter of 1825, very young, being small and woolly, and without the covering of long hair which marks the adult beaver. It was the sole survi- 328 APPENDICES. vor of five or six which were shipped at the same time, and it was in a very pitiable condition. Good treatment quickly restored it to health, and kindness soon made it familiar. When called by its name, ' Binny,' it generally answered with a little cry, and came to its owner. Tlie hearth-rug was its favorite haunt, and thereon it would lie stretched out, sometimes on its back, some- times on its side, and sometimes flat on its belly, but always near its master. The building instinct showed itself immediately it was let out of its cage and materials were placed in its way ; and this before it had been a week iu its new quarters. Its strength, even befoic it was half grown, was great. It would drag along a large sweeping-brush, or a warming-pan, grasping the handle with its teeth so that the load came over its shoulder, and ad- vancing in an oblique direction till it arrived at the point where it wished to place it. The long and large materials were always taken first, and two of the longest were generally laid crosswise, with one of the ends of each touching the wall, and the other ends projecting out into the room. The area formed by the crossed brushes and the wall he would fill up with hand-brushes, rush baskets, books, boots, sticks, cloths, dried turf, or anything portable. As the work grew high, he supported himself on his tail, which propped him up admirably, and he would often, after laying on one of his building materials, sit up over against it, appearing to consider his work, or, as the country people say, 'judge it.' This pause was sometimes followed by changing the position of the material 'judged,' and sometimes it was left in its place. After he had piled up his materials in one part of the room (for he generally chose the same place), he proceeded to wall up the space between the feet of a chest of drawers, which stood, at a little distance from It, high enough on its legs to make the bottom a roof for him, using for this purpose dried turf and sticks, which he laid very even, and filling up the interstices with bits of coal, hay, cloth, or anything he could pick up. This last place he seemed to appropriate for his dwelling ; the former work seemed to be intended for a dam. When he had walled up the space between the feet of the chest of drawers, he proceeded to carry in sticks, cloths, hay, cotton, and to make a nest; and when he had done he would sit up under the drawers and comb himself with the nails of his hind feet. In this operation, that BENNETTS ARTICLE ON THE BEAVER. 329 which appparcd at first to be a mairormntion was shown to be a beautiful adaptation to the necessities of tlio animal. The hu|re webbed hind feet of the beaver turn in so as to give tho appear- ance of deformity ; but if the toes were straight instead of being incurved, the animal could not use them for the purpose of keep- ing its fur in order and cleansing it from dirt and moisture " Binny generally carried small and light articles between his right foro leg and his chin, walking on the other three legs ; and large masses, which he could not grasp readily with his teeth, he pushed forward, leaning against them with his right fore paw and his cliin. He never carried anything on his tail, which he liked to dip in water, but he was not fond of plunging in the whole of his body. If his tail was kept moist, he never cared to drink ; but if it was kept dry, it became hot, and the animal appeared distressed, and would drink a great deal. It is not impossible that the tail may have tho power of absorbing water, like the skin of frogs, though it must be owned that the scaly integument which invests that member has not much of the character which generally belongs to absorbing surfaces. " Bread, and bread and milk, and sugar, formed the principal part of Binny's food ; but he was very fond of succulent fruits and roots. He was a most entertaining creature, and some highly comic scenes occurred between the worthy, but slow beaver, and a light and airy Macauco that was kept in the same apartment." An animal so sociable in his habits ought to be affectionate; and very affectionate the beaver is said to be. Deago mentions two young ones which were taken alive and brought to a neigh- boring factory in Hudson's Bay, where they throve very fast until one of them was killed accidentally. The survivor instantly felt the loss, began to moan, and abstained from food until it died. Mr. Bullock mentioned to the narrator a similar instance which fell under his notice in North America. A male and female were kept together in a room, where they lived happily till the male was deprived of his partner by dt^ath. For a day or two he appeared to be hardly aware of his loss, and brought food and laid it before her. At last, finding that she did not stir, he covered her body with twigs and leaves, and was in a pining state when Mr. Bullock lost sight of him. The specimens in the garden were sent to the Society from 330 APPENDICES. Canada by Lord Dalhousie. They were partially deprived of Bight before their arrival in this country, but one of them has still the U80 of one eye ; and the other, although totally blind, dives most perseveringly for clay, and applies it to stop up eveiy cranny in their common habitation that can admit "the winter's flaw." They both appear happy and contented. VINI&