vers have finished the dam, they then proceed to construct
a house for themselves. First they dig a foundation of greater or less
capacity, in proportion to the number of their society. They then form
the walls of earth and stones, mixed with billets of wood crossing each
other, and thus tying the fabric together just in the same way as you
sometimes see masons do in building human dwellings. Their huts are
generally of a circular form, something like the figure of a haycock,
and they have usually several entrances--one or more opening into the
river or lake, below the surface of the water, and one communicating
with any bushes and brushwood which may be at hand, so as to afford the
means of escape in case of attack either on the land or water side."

"They must be pretty safe then, Uncle Thomas, since they can so readily
escape."

"They are pretty secure so long as they have only unreasoning animals to
contend with, Frank; but when man, armed with the power, before which
mere Instinct must at all times bow, attacks them, they are very easily
overcome. Shall I tell you how the hunters capture them?"

"If you please, Uncle Thomas."

"Very well. I must first tell you that the skin of the Beaver is most
valuable during winter, as the fur is then thicker and finer than during
the summer. They are therefore very little if at all molested during
summer by the hunters. When winter sets in, however, and the lakes and
rivers are frozen over, a party of hunters set out to seek for the
beaver colonies, and, having found them, they make a number of holes in
the ice. Having done this and concerted measures, they break down the
huts, and the animals instantly get into the water as a place of safety.
As they cannot remain long under water, however, they have soon occasion
to come to the surface to breathe, and of course make for the holes
which the hunters have formed in the ice, when the latter, who are
waiting in readiness, knock them on the head."

"But, Uncle Thomas, don't you think it is very cruel to kill the beaver
so? I believe it feeds entirely on vegetables, and does no harm to any
one."

"You might say the same, John, of the sheep on the downs; the one is not
more cruel than the other: both are useful to man, and furnish him with
food as well as raiment, and both were, of course, included in the
'dominion' which God originally gave to man 'over the beasts of the
field.'"

"Is the beaver used for food, then, Uncle Th