Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-09-02
miscellaneous.
TnE CANADA A v

Onc cannot fdll to be struck with admlratlon
astonishment ON visiting the haunts of the
should place him Mt the head Of animal creation,
or make a Ginitou Of him, when Egypt, the mo-
Their of Arts, wotshippcd such stupid and dis
gushing deities. Whether you call it instinct, or
whether 1t is to be called reason, one thing is
certain, that if half of humanity were as intclli-
gent, as proyident, laborious and harmless as the
beaver, ours would be II very different world from
what it is.
The beaver is the original lumber-man and the
Grst of hydraulic engineers. Simple and unos.
tcntatious, his food is the bark of trees, and his
dwelling, a mud cabin, the door Of which is al
ways open, but under watcr-conditions which
secure retirement and are favorable to cool con-
temptation. The single object Of his existence
being to secure bark enough for himself and fam
Ilv, one would suppose there would not be much
di Gculty in that; but as neither beaver nor any
other animal, except man, is addicted to works
of supercrogtaion, we may be sure the former IN
all his labOrious arrangements, and those, too,
which alter the face of nature to such an impor'
tant degree, does no more than is absolutely ne
cessary for him to do. Cast in an inhospitable
climate, nearly the whole Of his labor is for the
purpose of laying in his necessary Winter sup
plies, and water is tho only medium by which he
can procure and preserve these. Too highly CIV
ilized for a nomadic life he builds permanently, and
docs not quit his habitation until driven from it,
like other respectable cmigrants, by stern neces-
sity.
We cannot better illustrate the habits of this
interesting animal than by accompanying a beaver
family on some fine evening in May, in search CT
a new home. The papa beaver, with his sons,
sons-in.law, wife, daughters, daughters-in-law, and
it may be, grandchildren, sallics forth prospect
ing" the country for a g,od location-t.c c. = 'trcam
Of easy navigation, and having an abundant sup
PLY of their fayorite food, the silver birch and
poplar, growing rs near the river as possible.
Having selected these ~''limits," the next step is
to place their dwelling so as to command the great
est amount of food. For this purpose they go as
fer below the supplies as the character Of the
stream will permit. A pond of deep still water
being an indispensable adjunct to their dwelling,
this is obtained by the construction Of a dam, and
few engineers could select a site to produce the re-
quired result so efficiently and economically. The
dam and the dwelling are forthwith commenced,
the material employed in both being sticks. roots,
mud and stones, the two former being dragged by
the teeth, and the latter carried between the fore
paws and the chin.
If the dam is'cxtensivc, whole trees are gnawed
down, the largest of which are of the diameter of
on ordinary stove-pipe, the stump being left stand
ing about eighteen inches above the ground, and
pointed like a crayon. those trees which stand
uren the bank of the stream they contriye to fall
into the water as cleverly as the most experienced
woodman those which are more distant are
cut up by their teeth. into pieces which can be
dragged to the water. These trees and branches
are ioatcd down to the site of the dam, where
they are dragged ashore and placed so that the
tops shall be borne down by the current, and thus
arrest the descending deritus and form a strong
and tight dam. Critical parts are built up "by
hand, . The sticks and mud when placed receiving
ssmart blow from the beavers tail, just as the
bricklayer settles his work with the handle of
his trcwel. The habitation or hut of the beaver
is almost bombproof; rising like a dome from
the ground on the margin of the pond, and some
times six or eight feet in thickness on the crown.
The only entrance is from a level of three or four
feet under the water of the pond, These precau-
tions are necessary, because like ell entcrprising
animals, the beaver is not without enemies.
The wolverine, who is as fond of beaver tail rs
mn old Nor wester, would walk into his hut if he
could only get there but having the same dis
taste for water rs the cat, he must torcgo the lux
ury. 1t is not, however, for safety that the beaver
adopts the submarine communication with his
dwelling, although it is for that he restricts him.
self to it. The same necessity which compels
him to build a dam, and thus create a pond of
water, obliges him to maintain communication
with that pond when the ice is three feet thick
upon its surface. Living upon the bark Of trees
he is Obliged to provide a comparatively great
bulk for his Winters consumption and, he mus,
secure it at the season when the new bark is form
cd and tefJre it commences to dry; he must also
store it up where it will not become frozen or dried
UP. lie could net reasonably lie expected to build
n frost-proof house large enough to contain his
family supply but if he did, it would wither, and
lose its nutriment therefore he preserves 1t III
water.
But the most remarkable evidence of his in
stinct, sagacity, or reason, is one which | have
not seen mentioned by naturalists. His pond we
nave seen must be deep, SO that it will not freeze
&c. the bottom, and that he can communicate with
his food and his dam, in case of any accidents to
the latter requiring repairs. But how does he
keep his food-which has been foated down to his
pond-from floating, when in it, and thus becoming
frozen in with the ice? ! said that in gnawine
down a tres the top of q stump was left pointed
like q crayon the fallen tree has the same form
for the beaver cuts like a woodman, wide at thu
surface and meeting in an angle in the centre, Will
this distinction-the four-legged animal does hi
work more uniformly, cutting equally all arounC
the log--while the two-legged one cuts only from
two opposite sides.
Thus every stick OF provender cut by the ANNA
is pointed at both ends, and when brought opposit
his dwelling he thrusts the pointed ends into tn
the mud bottom Of his pond sufficiently firm to pre-
vent their being foated out, at the same timcplac
inc them in a position in which the water has tn
least lift upon them, while he carefully apportion
his different lengths of timber to the ditieter
depths of water in his pond, so that the upper poir
of none of them shall approach near enough to til
surface to be caught by the Winter ice.
When the family are in comfortable circun
stances, the Winter supply nicely cut and store
away, the dam tight, and no indications OF Il wo
VERNE in the neighborhood, the patriarch of ii
hut takes out the youthful greenhorns and civ
them lessons in typographical engineering an
in order to try the strength of their tails, cncou
ages them to indulge in amateur d~amming. III
beaver works always by night, and to work like
beaver" is IA significant term for a man who NJ
only works earnestly and understandingly-but or
that works late and carly.
From what has been said, it will be readily see
that the maintenance Of the dam is of vital impo
tanee to the beaver. Some say that the pilot be
yer sleeps with his tail in the water, in order to
warned OF the first mishap to the dam but as the
is no foundation for such a cool assertion, it mi
be set down rs a very improbable tale. III
Indians avail themselves of this well known 81
itude 10 catch them having broken the dam, t
risk is n Immediately perceived by the lowering
tho water in the hut, and the beaver sallying for
to repair the breach, are slaughtered in t
trenches.
As the supply Of food in the vicinity of the da
becomes diminished the beaver is obliged to
higher up the stream and more distant from