The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1882-06-10

excursion eastward of Fraser's Lake,
British Columbia, he pitched small
cotton tent near shallow lake, at the
end of the first days journey, in order
to protect himself from mosquitoes, and
not to shield himself from the weather
Early in the frosty morning he was
awakened by strange series Of sharp,
Shaping reports, somewhat like the
cracking of an ox-whip, which arose in
the air from the immediate vicinity.
Crawling, rifle in hand, cautiously out,
he quickly located the origin of the
noises and then suspected the cause; the
rifle was laid aside, the note book sub
stituted and the cxpectant writer care
fully aud silently approached the little
arm OF the lake over which the odd
noises sprang from; pecring through the
thick tall fringe Of flag-rushes which
lined the waters edge, he saw in the
misty, hoary morning light a colony of
beavers in full and animated hustle over
the erection of winter house, while
their fat, scaly tails cheerfully smote the
earth and waters surface ever and anon.
Four beavers were engaged; they had
selected tiny peninsula of the lake;
eight feet back from the waters nearest
edge the foundations of their circular hut
were solidly laid, they were piling up
their sticks, tree trunks, mud and stones,
and treading all together when they fell
under the writer's eye, and they worked
thus for more than half an hour longer
until the rising sun shimmered upon
them full and fair; then they suddenly
plunged into the water to reappear no
more that day. They had, with true
bcaverly sagacity, sought the privacy and
safety Of their ''bank washes" elsewhere
until night should again welcome them
out to safe feeding and to finish their
happy house-building.
The beaver selects a point, according
to the character of the ground, between
five and fifteen feet from water which
never freezes to the bottom during Sc
we're winters, or else itiraises dome
from the submerged flats which it inun-
dates by damming small streams at ju-
dicious intervals, so as TO have q free
waterway all through the coolest wealth
er. The beavers have, during the sum-
mer and early fall, cut a large number
of poplar and birch tree-trunks and
branches into sections of some two or
three feet in length each; their sharp
teeth work very much like the girdling
strokes made by the Impractical hand Of
a boy or awoman when they essay chop
ping. These pieces of timber are towed
and carried by the giant rodents to the
selected site OF their proposed residence.
The beavers begin work by common
impulse. and lay this timber Of their own
cutting in a circular. ''criss-cross" and
horizontal fashion, piling mud, smaller
sticks, drift-wood and stones over, under
and between these larger sections of
wood, until they have reared conical
from the building level, and the walls
varying in thickness from two to four
feet, according to the instructive under
standing which these animals always
have as to the ensuing winter being
warmer or colder. When they labor,
these building parties are usually made
up of four old beavers 1.-TWO male and
two females), and the inclosed dome is
just large enough to accommodate them
together with their six or eight young
ones.
As they work they place most of their
timber horizontally, save the outside
slabs and pieces; they preserve no other
order than that of leaving the cavity in
the middle; the branches which happen
to project perceptibly inward and beyond
the walls are gnawed smoothly off, and
the clipped ends, chips, etc., are thrown
up and out upon the rising structure.
All the materials, sticks, mud, CT cetera.
are mixed up together in the composition
of the dome from the foundation to the
summit.
The constant pattering of the beavers
feet settle and cement the work as il
rises: there is no troweling of the mass
by their queer paddle-shaped tails, so
suggestive of the action and use; but
occasionally, the castor seems to be so
hilarious or self-delightcd that it pauses
for moment in its busy labor to hump
its back and bring the tail down with a
sharp ringing slap upon the mud, or
sticks. or water, as the case may be.
The amusing stories told of the use
made of the beavers candle extremity
rs sort of stone and mud drag or cart
are not founded on fact. Castor carries
all the ooze, pebbles, ETC., which he uses
in building his walls by holding these
materials between his throat and fore
paws.
When the hut has been reared to the
desired altitude and arched over, the
exterior roughness is somewhat smoothed
down by the addition OF numerous and
repeated thin coatings of mud, which
serve as dampener, keeping the entire