te Mpa la AS POA we Rx ee oe Ree WY SEAS i s SS SNS Soe : REV VV \ RRR S SSN S SN RAGA \\ AN WG SS S N : GQ SV \\ \ SS ‘ LH SX RAH S a . SO WA R XV . SS SQV S Y RAY SS SQ * . \. SS S AG \ SAS HAHN SS A | (eo Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 httos://archive.org/details/castorologiaorhi0Omart_O ¢ = Jt j e J - &y mv : 5, - > mt i 4 7 TA « q ¢ \ ' ' - y an F “ : , ASTOROLOGIA. | a Sy = ‘“‘ A subject which has, from the very inception of colonization, been associated with the in- dustrial and commercial development, and, indirectly, with the social life, the romance, and, to a considerable extent, even with the wars of Canada.”’ JOHN READE. Le SN DEN RN oy R \ t \ (i ii fi ASillawll ia Ail TM Aye Fe oN TAA TE aang iT te whit nthe Tt alguna tH cae ae yi "i i! PRY finals \ i A SCENE IN THE LAURENTIDES | | Henw We ; \ AS ' CASTOROLOGIA OR THE BISTORY AND. TRADITIONS OF THE CANADIAN BEAVER. BY LO RONCH ely MEN RAL WING TE 3Z-9., 026: AN EXHAUSTIVE MONOGRAPH, POPULARLY WRITTEN AND LNOILIL IC SIM YS HIG AIO IOS, MONTREAL: WM. DRYSDALE & CO. No. 232 ST. JAMES STREET. LONDON: EDWARD STANFORD, Nos. 26 & 27 COCKSPUR STREET, CHARING CROSS, S. W. 18Q2. Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year eighteen hundred and ninety-two, by HORACE T. MARTIN, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture. DESBARATS & CO., ENGRAVERS AND PRINTERS. BY PERMISSION DEDICATED TO SIR J. WM. DAWSON, LL.D., F.R.S., &c. IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF HIS SERVICES TO STUDENTS OF CANADIAN NATURAL, HISTORY. aw PREFACE. TRADITIONAL knowledge of the beaver is the birthright yay of every Canadian; yet, as in most cases where tradition alone is relied on, this knowledge is chiefly remarkable for its divergence from facts. As the acorn, falling on favorable soil, sends forth the slender shoot, which time and circumstance may model into a grotesque fetish for minds ignorant, or forget- ful of the simplicity of its origin; so, the facts of science, if nurtured by tradition, soon lose shape, and multitudes venerate the fabulous stories of dragon or beaver, with total disregard to outraged reason. Iconoclasm must, therefore, do its work, dis- tasteful as its spirit may be; for rather should we add, than take away one tittle of our nation’s lore; but such statements as can- not stand the search-light test of truth, must rank as fable; and while our story may lose some of its glamour when studied rationally, we surely do not need the chimerical to arouse our interest. Canada has been known for nearly three centuries as ‘‘the home of the beaver,’’ and for over two hundred years this animal contributed to Canada’s most substantial advancement: inspiring adventures, stimulating enterprize, and laying the strong founda- tions of our commercial development. ‘Thus has the beaver played its part in the romance of our early history; the central figure around which waged the wars of nations, while powerful corpo- x rations and petty adventurers fought for monopolies few were able to control. The history of the beaver in Great Britain, has been concisely recorded by J. E. Harting; while an extensive volume, the work of Morgan and Ely, treats of the beaver in the United States. Conspicuous for original contributions on the Canadian beaver, we recognize Cartwright, in Jabrador; Hardy, in New Bruns- wick ; Venner, in Quebec; Wilson, in Ontario; and Green, in the Far West; but all these are eclipsed by Samuel Hearne, the Hudson’s Bay explorer and writer, whose observations will be worth, for all time, verbatzm copy. Dr. Richardson’s monumental tome, though written half a century later, scarcely extends in the least our knowledge of this subject. To trace the tangled threads of the earlier chronicles, and to produce a worthy fabric, requires for every strand a mind peculiar to the theme—the patience and keen observance of the Antiquary —the genius of the Historian—the broad knowledge of the Biologist —all these at least, and with these, the general love for the study of Nature. ‘This last has been my slender equipment, but I have easily enlisted sympathetic help from members of the Anti- quarian Society, the Society for Historical Studies, and the Natural History Society of Montreal. To the Hon. Edward Murphy and to Mr. P. S. Murphy I am indebted for antiquarian notes; for the elucidation of many historical problems my thanks are due to Mr. Henry Mott and Mr. Gerald E. Hart; while for many kind and valuable services I am deeply grateful to Sir J. Wm. Dawson. Among my correspondents many have evinced a prac- tical interest, and I am proud to acknowledge many items from the fluent pen of Mr. J. M. LeMoine. During my sojourns abroad I received most friendly assistance, and acknowledge my obliga- tions to Mr. T. F. Moore, Derby Museum, Liverpool; Mr. Chas. N. Read, Brit. Mus. (Ethnography) ; Mr. Oldfield Thomas and Mr. A. Smith Woodward, Brit. Mus. (Natural History); Mr. A. D. Bartlett, Regents Park Gardens; and Mr. P. A. Sclater, Sec’y. Zool. Society, London ; who made available to me the privileges of those xi magnificent institutions. My numerous reading and thinking friends have, with a marvellous patience, endured these many years my demands for informations, and indeed their sympathy has been my greatest encouragement. I wish also to express my thanks to the publishers, who have so generously undertaken the responsibility of bringing before the public this, my initial volume; thereby preserving those traditions which make our great Dominion proud to own as its national totem, ‘‘the beaver.”’ HorAcE T. MARTIN. MONTREAL, february, 1892. ABER OM CONTENTS: PAGE LEY DIR OTSUICIIOIN oy ace G/U SEIS recs cuir te rer or RvR res cee i CRAURIUGR 1G PEO Oe MaPNMMOLKEORE | 5 45 6 7 et in eee Fy] CHAPTER II. Pee a UEMBESE AMBER Ge) Miers, ie ele) Sean ee SL 15 CHAP ERs Me: ESE URNGVEE ONG AVERT oh We cs we ee ee | 25 CHAPTER Ly: DoE voORE IMPORTANT AMERICAN RODENTS . ........5. 5. Qt CHEAPAIR Vi. Pieris tORVve Or HH CANADIAN BEAVER . .. . « ... i -'. vw . 4 CHAPTER, Vi. eee ONS MRIBULION 6. . 0k oe ee 49 @EUAP AE RV PME ERUNG ACCOMPLISHMENTS, . . .-. 2 27. 5s ee eet ee ee) SI CSUN Wa00t Pee OAMEEOONSIMERATIONS 0. 8. ee 79 CISURVE INDIR IDG eee ONE DIGA Ee ROPERTLES:. 2. 22 ee eee 89 CSUMEIIMR, XK PiEGr CANCE IN TRADE AND COMMERCE ... . 2 201-6 eb ee 99 CHAPTER XI. Mee Om LHE sDRAVER IN MANUPACTURES ... 2 2). 22 ss ss es) TQ X1V CHAPTER XII. HUNTING THE BRAVER CHAPTER XIII. EXPERIMENTS IN DOMESTICATION . CHAPTER XIV. ANATOMY—OSTEOLOGY—TAXIDERMY CHAPTER XV. THE BEAVER IN HERALDRY . APPENDICES. APPENDIX—A. PHOTO-COPIES FROM ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS—I172I-1726 APPENDIX—B. SAMUEL HEARNE’S ACCOUNT OF THE BEAVER. . APPENDIX—C. PLAPTYPSYLLUS CASTORIS . 133 153 I7I 189 207 219 235 PhS hlOr We LUST RATIONS. PAGE Pe SSenentminemeanrentides oe ke . Frontispiece Figure of a Beaver from the earliest known Monograph ........ 4 ESSE @ CES LSUIHOSy yee gee rear a oe a OP Pig, te cree 6 Wonders of the New World ik 6 Peter fe ae II The Beaver and His Famous Lodges (from an old Bane a tet baie 14 Fiber Zibethicus—Castor Canadensis—Castoroides Ohioensis. . . . 2s Lower Jaw of Trogontherium Cuvieri (half natural size) after Owen. . . 924 Lower Jaw of the European Beaver, from Peat Moss, Newbury, England. 30 ipiner Zibetmicus-——ihe Musk Beaver . . 2... 106. we 34 Myopotamus Coypus—The South American Beaver ........ 36 The Largest Existing Rodent—Hydrocherus Capybara 40 Ho enitceaVoOtk Othe Beaver Kitten. ..6 6.0: « e. 43 Stump Showing Cuttings from Various Levels of Snow . 47 The Large Yellow Pond Lily (Nuphar Advena) 48 Beaver Hunting Grounds of the Iroquois Seg Oe 54-55 Map Showing Distribution of Beaver—about nae SVE Nhe a ne 58 mucevevatce of Civilization ......... 5 OS pa OER RRO se 60 Meneses Varvelous Vision ©. ..-... 0... egal: 65 Stump Showing that Methods of Cutting Disagree... . . ate 68 The Beaver Canal, from ‘‘ The American Beaver and his Works”? . 73 BedMenCHips .. .... 6 gua gybat ln lees men Need teu one ea 78 Fur Traders ‘“‘Squatting’’ on the Prairie near Fort Garry, 1876 . 82 Beaver Tooth Chisel, from a Specimen in the British Museum... .. 87 piueweaee on tie Orieinal Castorologia’ - . . 1. kk el 93 Lower Incisor Tooth of the Beaver Bsc oh Ti a a eee 96 Dried Castoreum Pouches—‘“‘ Bark Stone,’’ or ‘‘ Beaver Castors ”’ 98 Meeptor Hive Beayets .°. 20 ke “oe ioe aes 106 The Hudson’s Bay Company’s Beaver Token ..... oar, kate Co ae 108 Bee rom West Company's Beaver Token. ......... 112 XVI A Trapper and Trader of the Old Régime . From ‘‘Tllustrated Montreal,’’ by permission J. McConniff. Lake Superior, or The Spirit Land Beaver Fur, Magnified 50 Diameters. . St) Clement, Patron Saint of the Hatters . 2 2) 2), 5 eee Modifications of the Beaver Hat The Hood, or Beaver Hat in its First Form Beaver Fur, Magnified 250 Diameters . Diagram of a Beaver Hunt—1704 . The Beaver Hunting Country of the Six Nation qudiene 749 Beaver Trap, with Clutch . Quickwahay—The ‘‘ Beaver Eater’’ The Deadfall (as now used for Mink or Sable) . The Marquis of Bute’s Beaver Enclosure—July 1889 ‘“No Person Allowed Within the Beaver Enclosure ”’ . Beaver’s Head (Study from Still Wite)) 2. eee Tail of the Beaver—Direct from Nature . we Cpe ie Skulls Showing the Features on which the epeeaes Difference is cies Artistic Taxidermy Applied to the Beaver . This group has been presented to the Redpath Museum, McGiil College, in the name of the late Roswell C. Lyman. Taxidermic Monstrosities . Postage Stamp, issued 1851 . Seals of the New Netherlands Coat of Arms of the City of Montreal Early Arms of Canada (unauthenticated) Suggestion for a Complete Coat of Arms for the Dominion of Canada . Platypsyllus Castoris . >, \e x i ; | : ’ . ‘ i i ‘ \ / (a s ee we ! « fy, % ' 1 ra Wane peadfult iS SALUTATION FROM THE KING OF BEAVERS. By GEORGE MARTIN. *“ Welcome to the kindly home Where we shape the wattied dome, Where, in moonlight’s silver calm, My faithful subjects build the dam ; The land whose maple leaf conveys A prophecy of sweetened days. We’re grateful for the honor given To beaverhood, since nearer heaven This great Dominion raised our name, Emblazoned on the scroll of fame ; A choice that to the world attests The base on which its greatness rests, Our one transcendent, special gift :— Persistency of honest thrift.” INERODUCTION. ANADA offers to the naturalist an exceptional invitation, in 3 her grand possessions of primeval forest, trackless prairie, mountain ranges, lakes and rivers. Nature’s domain is, however, so vast, that the mind is perplexed with the endless beauty of the panorama, and instead of boldly pressing on nature, for the unfolding of her secrets, the observer pauses before the great chain of interdependent phenomena. ‘The subject as a whole, being beyond the grasp of most minds, contentment will be found in selecting a minor feature, and devoting to it close study. The early adventurers in the New World met with many novel- ties and the interest manifested in these discoveries called forth accounts concerning them. Though the temptation to startle the Old World readers by fabulous tales, was frequently yielded to, all the early records are valuable, as containing the germs of our cur- rent traditions. The discovery of the Canadian Beaver was coincident with the discovery of Canada. From the earliest days, the animal was recog- nized as of great importance to Canada, and this association has given her the beaver as a national symbol. The name of the Indian village, Hochelaga, visited by Jacques Cartier in 1536, is an Algon- quin word, signifying ‘‘beaver-meadows,’’ and as colonies of beavers were not unusually found in the immediate vicinity of the Indian 4 - CASTOROLOGIA. settlements, we may reasonably infer that much of the present site of the city of Montreal, was then occupied by them. It was not, however, till the establishing of the fur-trading post at Quebec in 1604, and at Montreal in 1611, that the commercial importance was taken advantage of, and the destruction of the beaver hosts began. ‘Though the beaver trade of Canada soon assumed proportions commanding the attention of Parliament, it FIGURE OF A BEAVER FROM THE EARLIEST KNOWN MONOGRAPH—1685. was two centuries later, before science manifested any interest. In 1820, Kuhl published a description of a Canadian beaver, then in the British Museum, and named it Castor Canadensis, thus creating a specific name in contradistinction to Castor Luropeus, the European beaver. In size the creatures were much alike; in color the Kuro- pean was not so dark, but no difference of any moment was detected, till, in 1825, Frederick Cuvier pointed out a difference in the skulls, which has since been recognized as establishing the species. Kuhl’s, being the first distinctive name published to science, by the rules of CASTOROLOGIA. 5 scientific nomenclature takes precedence, hence we have, fixed be- yond dispute, the scientific binomen, Castor Canadensis, giving the popular form, the Canadian beaver. The European beaver had formerly been widely spread over the Old World, and it had earned a conspicuous place in the thoughts of men, as early as the days of Heredotus, 420 to 480, B.C. The Greeks called it Castor, from gastvo—the stomach, having reference to the appearance of the animal; while in Latin, we find many records of it under the names, ‘‘fibre,’’ ‘‘fiber’’ and ‘‘ fibir ;’’ cor- rupted from frum, and signifying that the animal dwelt on the banks or edges of the rivers and streams. ‘There is also a Latin form, ‘‘ beber,’’ with which there is evident connection in the Ger- man ‘‘biber,’’ the old French ‘“‘beavre,’’ and the Anglo-Saxon “‘beofer,’’ ‘““befer,’’ and ‘“‘beaver.’’ As the determining of scientific names rests absolutely on the rule of priority, regardless of correct- ness or suitability, many gross anomalies occur; but in the present case no alteration or improvement could be wished for, as the scientific name admits of translation into terms fairly descriptive of the creature and its habits. With this general introduction, enquiry may now be made regarding the antecedents of the beaver, and though the Old World records date very early, the traditions of the North American Indians, which associate the beaver with the creation of the world, merit first consideration. Armé des Hurons. MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE. ‘“* Should you ask me, whence these stories? Whence these legends and traditions, With the odors of the forest, With the dew and damp of meadows, With the curling smoke of wigwams,. . . I should answer, I should tell you, ‘From the forest and the prairies, From the great lakes of the Northland, From the land of the Ojibways, From the land of the Dacotahs,. . . I repeat them as I heard them From the lips of Nawadaha, The musician, the sweet singer.’ Should you ask where Nawadaha Found these songs, so wild and wayward, Found these legends and traditions, I should answer, I should tell you, ‘In the birds’-nests of the forest, In the lodges of the beaver,’ ’’ . —The Song of Hiawatha. (CUSCAURMIN DRE IG TRADITIONS CONCERNING THE BEAVER AND THE WORLD’S CREATION— PRODIGIES ASCRIBED TO EARLY MEMBERS—THE BEAVER AS THE PROGENITOR OF MAN—SUPPOSED INFLUENCE OF BEAVER GHOSTS— REVERENCE WITH WHICH THE BEAVER IS TREATED—BEAVER FABLES —EARLY COLONIAL SUPERSTITIONS REGARDING ANIMAL LIFE. Before relating what may be called the sacred legends of the beaver, it may be well, first, to consider the people in whose minds the stories originated. It is generally admitted that climate has a re- markable effect on character, and with all the varieties from tropical to arctic, included in the original habitat of the Indians, a great diversity of character might be expected. In fact, they cannot be studied as one people, any more than could the present inhabitants of Europe, be described in one simple phrase. ‘Thus, to the South, there were the ‘‘ Digger’’ Indians, and the ‘‘ Fishing’’ tribes—in- different and unprogressive—and with them, the robber bands who preyed upon them. Further to the North a sturdier race, the great watriors, distracting their neighbours, north and south, making captives and generally playing the part of a military nation ; while on this plane would be included settled and industrious tribes, such as the Hochelagans. Still higher in latitude the hardy fur-hunters, whose dealings with the Hudson’s Bay Company for over two centuries, furnish ample ground for the conception of the noble possibilities of the ‘‘redman ;’’ and with such names as Pontiac, Tecumseth and Brant, illuminating the pages of our history, we need not choose types from the poor wretches who have fallen heir to our vices only. Then may we hold more respect for our red-skinned brother, and treat with reverence those traditions which to him were most sacred. MO) CASTOROLOGIA. While the Indian cannot justly be classified among the spirit- worshippers, though he had clear conceptions of spirits and a spirit- world, yet he is much above the range of fetishism, and may most properly be considered as a nature-worshipper. Being of a medita- tive mind, he reasoned far beyond the visible world, though he based his belief on material evidence. It was a logical process of reasoning that brought him to face the problem of the world’s creation. He believed the world was all covered with water in the beginning, and he peopled it with the beaver, the musquash and the otter, whose aquatic habits we can easily understand must have impressed him. But, as the building of the world was a prodigious task, these animals were all of gigantic size. They dived and brought up the mud with which the great spirit—the Manitou— made the earth. Then the features of the earth, the mountain ranges, cataracts and caves, were all the works of the giant beavers ; and the erratic boulders, which, in many places, stand so conspicu- ously in our landscape, were the missles thrown by enraged spirits at offending beavers. When the world became ready for the introduction of man, the Indian philosophy solved the problem in a way that was curious and masterly. The animals were said to have been endowed with speech, and seemed to have used the gift even as wicked mortals often do, accordingly, the great Manitou would frequently be vexed, and his wrath caused him at times to slay the evil-doer. ‘Then, by a beautiful adaptation of the idea of the transmigration of spirits, man came forth as the spirit of the departed animal, and bore hence- forth a likeness in character to the animal from which he sprang. The Amikonas, or ‘‘ People of the Beaver,’’ an Algonquin tribe of Lake Huron, claimed descent from the carcass of the great original beaver, or father of the beavers; and the beaver was one of the eight clans of the Iroquois. In the wonderful totem-poles of the Queen Charlotte Islanders, a prominent place is afforded the beaver, and doubtless the Hochelagans, or ‘‘Indians of the Beaver-Meadow,”’ held the creature in high esteem. The Manitou was good to man, and to make him chief among Nt Ne ) W O N D E R S O F THE N E YW W O Re L D - 7 a i i =~" c a bbs ‘ ‘ x 7 ‘ ure . <7 757 ae . / : 1 # A! ’ S fi : wee & , Py Thee ‘ a Ww 72 a 7 - 7. ad ; i . 7 7 ¥ ; r ie os it iF i x o os ine % sya i a ed one a) hae ni Cae Bats i i : : i We = / CASTOROLOGIA. 13 all living things, the Good Spirit ‘‘smoothed with his hand the giant beasts, making them gradually smaller,’’ and then he deprived them of the power of speech. Though animals were thus subjected to man, both were accountable to the Manitou; and even the animals and their departed spirits had powers affecting man. Many records relate the petitions of the Hunter before starting for the chase, which invariably included the promise of all reverence to be paid his victims. In this respect, the beaver, as the most valuable con- tributor to the social economy of the Indian, was the object of special regard, and roasted beaver was the highest desire of the Indian. After the feast the sacred bone was raised to its altar, an evidence of honor paid to the departed beaver, and then the remains were gathered with care and returned to the water, so that the dogs touched none of it. Woe to the iuckless hunter who did dishonor to the bones of the beaver, and thus displeased the spirits; the beavers at once became shy, and in vain might he lay his traps. Many of these matters may seem childish and unworthy serious repetition, but surely they are of more profit than the fabulous accounts of the beaver which practically constitute the popular range of beaver literature. ‘The animal itself has been represented in forms the most grotesque, some of which are selected as the illustrations of this chapter; and his works have been exaggerated beyond all recognition. ‘The dam has been described as formed of stakes five or six feet long driven into the ground in rows, with pliant twigs wattled between ‘‘as hurdles are made;’’ and the lodge has been extended to a five story building with windows and other conveniences ; while in the erection of these, the tail has been converted into a vehicle for conveying the materials, a pile-driver for placing the stakes, and a trowel for plastering the house. In fact as Hearne wrote in 1771, the only thing that remained to make their natural history complete, was the adding of “‘ a vocabulary of their language, a code of their laws, and a sketch of their religion.’’ Hither from a misinterpretation of the Indian legends, or a mis- use of the imaginative faculties, or from both, there exists univer- sally in the early colonial writings the most astonishing references 14 CASTOROLOGIA. to the wild animals of the country, and the following quotation will show the extreme to which these fancies reached: ‘‘ On the borders of Canada, animals are now and again seen resembling a horse; they have cloven hoofs, shaggy manes, a horn right out of the forehead, a tail like a wild hog.’ This creature was figured by Arnoldus Montanus, in 1671, with some of the other animals of the New World, including the beaver, and will easily be recognized in the accompanying group of chim- eras, which is reproduced from the copy in the Documentary His- tory of New York. | 7 i rey : . é ty G0 wy wr 3 x yh aye és 5 Sule : SSAA = THE BEAVER AND HIS FAMOUS LODGES. FROM AN OLD PRINT, 1755. MAMMOTH BEAVERS. ‘““ ‘To the beavers Paw-Puk-Keewi1s Spake entreating, said in this wise: ‘Very pleasant is your dwelling, O my friends! and safe from danger ; Can you not with all your cunning, All your wisdom and contrivance, Change me, too, into a beaver?’ ‘Yes,’ replied Ahmeek, the beaver, He the king of all the beavers, ‘Let yourself slide down among us, Down into the tranquil water.’ ‘Make me large,’ said Paw-Puk-Keewis ‘Make me large, and make me larger, Larger than the other beavers.’ ‘Yes,’ the beaver chief responded, ‘When our lodge below you enter, In our Wigwam we will make you Ten times larger than the others.’ ”’ —Tne Hunting of Paw-Puk-Keewis. (CHEOAIP IBIS OL INDIAN LEGENDS OF GIANT BEAVERS—DISCOVERY OF TROGONTHERIUM, CUVIER’S GIGANTIC BEAVER—A SEARCH FOR THE FOSSIL, BEAVER OF NORTH AMERICA—CASTOROIDES OHIOENSIS—REFLECTIONS ON THE FORM AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THESE ANIMALS—THE CHANGES OF FAUNA IN RECENT TIMES. We have already told how the Indians, basing their arguments on material phenomena, reasoned as to the formation of the various features of the earth, and by introducing the industrious beaver, they explained many of the characteristics of the landscape which to them appeared like the beaver’s work ; but, the proportions being so disparaging as to necessitate the conception of animals with more power and knowledge, we find a belief in the Indian mind concern- ing giant beavers and their herculean work. Many of these stories occur in the Eskimo legends, and the range may be said to extend over the whole of North America, and to occupy a foremost place in the thought of all its varying inhabitants. Pitetot records a legend of the West, wherein the tooth of the great beaver was made into an adze for hollowing out logs of wood for canoes. In the Algonquin Legends of New England, Chas. Leland introduces Quah- beet, the giant beaver, the clapping of whose tail made the thunders; and with all the strength of local coloring is told its various accom- plishments towards shaping the earth. The Micmacs recognized the site of a beaver-dam which once flooded the Annapolis Valley ; and they say the bones of the beavers who built this dam may still be found, and the teeth are six inches across. According to a tra- dition of the Ojibways, there was an immense beaver in some part of Lake Superior. The Indians point out an island in the lake, about two miles long, and one and a third broad, and say that the beaver spoken of was the same size. Another story relates how 18 | CASTOROLOGIA. Nanahbozho went one morning to Lake Superior for the purpose of catching a beaver for his breakfast. He succeeded in dislodging a young beaver and chased it towards the Sault Ste. Marie; a stone, thirty feet in diameter, to be seen to-day on the shores of Lake Michigan, was a missile used by Nanahbozho in this chase. The beaver was eventually caught in the Ottawa, and its head was dashed against the rocky banks of the river where the Indians say the marks of blood are still to be seen. In 1828, an English scientist, Mr. Charles Fothergill, made a short sojourn in Montreal preparatory to visiting our great lone lands. During his stay in our city, it happened that the Natural History Society had invited essays on the subject of the ‘“Quadru- peds of British North America,’ offering a prize for the best contri- bution. Mr. Fothergill became a party to the contest, thus eviden- cing his knowledge of our fauna, and in the course of his paper he makes the extraordinary admission that he has visited Canada with a view of searching our great North-Western Provinces, if perchance he might still find living evidence of “‘the Mammoth, the great Elk of the Antideluvians, and the giant Beaver; especially,” says Mr. Fothergill, ‘‘as the Indians have many legends concerning these mammals, and Indian legends are seldom without some truth for their foundation.’’ ‘The essay is a most interesting and valuable survey of our mammals, and such faith had the essayist in the objects of his search, that he enumerates, among Canadian animals the Great Beaver, and says :— ‘“T have been induced to name the Gveat Leaver in this cata- logue because there is pretty certain evidence of the existence of such an animal in various parts of the interior towards the North- West. The Indians of many tribes firmly believe in its existerice, and assert they have often seenit. I willtake, or endeavour to take, an early opportunity to lay before the society such evidences as are in my possession to prove the fact; in the meanwhile, I will merely remark that the skull which was found on the banks of the Dela- ware nearly forty years ago—which induced the naturalists of the United States to create a new genus under the title of Asteopera— CASTOROLOGIA. 19 and which skull is still preserved in the Philadelphia Museum, in my mind belonged, beyond all doubt, to this animal, which is still in existence in our remote lakes and rivers in the interior.”’ Surely the essayist could not have known of the accomplish- ments of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the discoverer of the Mackenzie River, in 1789; and of David Thompson the geographer of the North West Company, whose knowledge of the further north-west became the basis of all later surveying. It is easily possible to conjecture the fate of such a scheme, in discussion before the members of the ‘Beaver Club,” for among them could be counted those who were personally acquainted with the greater part of the “‘fur-country,”’ and their accumulated experience may be said to have exhausted the barest possibility of the existence in the flesh of the Great Beaver. A close relationship may, however, be traced through the Euro- pean fossil which was first discovered by M. Gothelf de Fischer, in the sandy borders of the Sea of Azof; and which has since been found at Ostend, Belgium; and at Cromer, and Walker’s Cliff in Norfolk, England, together with the bones of the Mammoth and the Rhinoceros. ‘The animal was named after Cuvier, the eminent Palzontologist; Zvogoniherium Cuviert, or Cuvier’s Gigantic Beaver. A figure of the fossil was sent to Cuvier, who claimed for it so close an affinity with the beavers as to rank in the same genus, and he proposed the name Castor Trogontherium. He says that Sepiesteerteand allythe forms of the head bear the character of the beaver ; and it could not be distinguished from the head of the adult beaver of Canada if the fossil were not one-fourth larger. How- ever, as it is not certain that we possess the skulls of these existing beavers which attain the largest size; and since the beaver formerly inhabited, and still, perhaps, inhabits the shores of Euxine; since, also, nearly all the borders of the Sea of Azof, are but vast alluvial formations,—I think one ought to know precisely the matrix of the skull in question before deciding it belonged to an extinct animal.”’ These remarks appeared in 1812, and again in a second edition in 1823 ; and may possibly have been the inspiration under which Mr. Fothergill set out to discover the American representative. 20 CASTOROLOGIA. For those who were conversant with the traditions of the giant beaver, and, who, like the essayist quoted, believed that the Indian legends were based on fact, a triumph was close at hand. In 1837, in the Report of the Geology of Ohio, Mr. J. W. Foster called the attention of science to the discovery of a fossil, suggesting an extinct animal of the Order Rodentia ; and in 1838 he gave a description of the lower jaw, which he had found at Nashport, Licking County, Ohio, under the name of Castoroides Ohioensis. ‘Ten years later the nearly perfect skull was obtained by the Rev. Benjamin Hale, of Geneva College, and on this specimen a monograph was prepared by Messrs. Hall & Wyman, which appeared in the Boston Journal of Natural History in 1847. Since then specimens have been found at Clyde, Wayne County, New York; Memphis, Tennessee; near Charleston and Schawneetown, Illinois; also in Michigan, Missis- sippi, Louisiana, Texas and South Carolina; giving a known habitat extending from the States of New York and South Carolina, westward to Michigan and Texas. ‘These fragments do not, how- ever, give any knowledge concerning the general form and charac- teristics of the animal, for they are all parts of the skull only, and are mainly but pieces of the teeth. Hnough, however, has been determined to ally the animal closely with the beaver, and it is popularly called the ‘‘ Fossil Beaver of North America.’? ‘Though it is possible to recognize a likeness in dentition and cranial char- acter with the genus Caséor, it must not be implied that its habits and form were identical with the beaver as we know it to-day; a glance at the accompanying plate shows that the brain capacity is smaller than the beaver, and this alone indicates essential differ- ences of character ; in fact there are some features more clearly resembling the Capybara, and yet there is enough difference from either to constitute a new genus. The age to which both these fossil animals belonged is a matter of importance, as also, is the fact that they lived within historic times, and were, doubtless, well known to the early races of men. ‘The period is comprehended in geologic terms, as the ‘‘ Quaternary; or Age of Man,” and though at ismspoken of geologically as recent, any calculation in years would be stupen- ‘SISNHOIHO SHGIOYOLSVD ‘“SISNHAVNVO YOLSVD “SNOIHLHEIZ BHAI SANS ASS TN °F AC WS NN SN \ SN \\ ‘ Ney i: 4 ve + * 1 ‘ . CASTOROLOGIA. 23 dous, as a passing study of the age willshow. Dana says: ‘‘ America in the Quaternary era was inferior to Europe in the number of its Carnivores, but exhibited the gigantic feature of the life of its time im its species. In North America the mammals in- cluded an elephant (Alephas Americanus) as large as the European, besides the Asiatic, (Elephas Primegenius) in the more northern latitudes ; a mastodon (Wastodon Americanus) of still greater mag- nitude ; horses much larger than the modern ; species of ox, bison, tapir, gigantic beavers, etc.’’ In the “‘ Handbook of Canadian Geology,’’ Sir William Dawson divides the Quaternary into Pleistocene and Modern ; and the latter is again divided into two periods and treated as follows :— “1. Zhe Post Glacial. The climate was temperate but some- what extreme. All the modern mammals, including man, seem to have been in existence, but several others now extinct, as the Mam- moth, the Tichorhine Rhinoceros and the Cave Bear, lived in the Northern Hemisphere,. . . . This period was terminated by a submergence or a series of submergences which with their accom- panying physical changes proved fatal to many species of animals and to the oldest races of men, and left the continents at a lower level than at present, from which they have risen in the recent period . ‘“9. The Recent or Historic Period. 'This dates from the settle- ment of our continents at the present levels after the Post-Glacial subsidence. ‘““T have called this the Historic Period, because in some regions history and tradition extend back to its beginnings. The historical deluge is in all likelihood identical with the movements of the land above referred to, by which this age was inaugurated ; though in certain localities, as in America, the beginning of the historic period is very recent. In this age man co-exists wholly with existing species of mammals, and the races of men are the same which still survive. The whole forms geologically one period, and the distinc- 24 | CASTOROLOGIA. tions made by antiquarians between stone, bronze and iron ages, and under the former between palzeolithic and neolithic, are merely of local significance and connected with no physical or vital changes of geological importance. ‘The real geological distinction is that of Paleeocosmic, Post-glacial or Antediluvian man on the one hand and Neocosmic, Recent or Post-diluvian on the other. The Palzo- cosmic men have been divided in two races, the Canstadt or Nean- derthal type and the Engis or Cromagnon type. Both of these were contemporaneous with the mammoth, the Tichorhine Rhinoceros and other Post-glacial animals now extinct. Itis probable that they may be ultimately identified with the ruder tribes of the historical autediluvian period, and that the physical changes by which they and some other animals seem to have been destroyed, were the same with those recorded in the ancient history and traditions of all the older races of men.”’ While yet there are many fascinating problems which geology might solve, we must pass on to consider the changes in recent fauna brought about by the advance of civilization, and for the pre- sent we very reluctantly leave the facts and the fables concerning the Great Beavers. se L~’"Zt., Z 2) Mhvwy-:; yy GY ZA Py Uy se” “