der. When they have placed it to their mind they turn
round and give it a smart blow with their flat tail. In the act of diving
they give a similar stroke to the surface of the water. They keep their
provision of wood under water in front of the house. Their favourite food
is the bark of the aspen, birch and willow; they also eat the alder, but
seldom touch any of the pine tribe unless from necessity; they are fond
of the large roots of the Nuphar lutea, and grow fat upon it but it gives
their flesh a strong rancid taste. In the season of love their call
resembles a groan, that of the male being the hoarsest, but the voice of
the young is exactly like the cry of a child. They are very playful as
the following anecdote will show: One day a gentleman, long resident in
this country, espied five young beavers sporting in the water, leaping
upon the trunk of a tree, pushing one another off and playing a thousand
interesting tricks. He approached softly under cover of the bushes and
prepared to fire on the unsuspecting creatures, but a nearer approach
discovered to him such a similitude betwixt their gestures and the
infantile caresses of his own children that he threw aside his gun. This
gentleman's feelings are to be envied but few traders in fur would have
acted so feelingly. The muskrat frequently inhabits the same lodge with
the beaver and the otter also thrusts himself in occasionally; the latter
however is not always a civil guest as he sometimes devours his host.

These are the animals most interesting in an economical point of view.
The American hare and several kinds of grouse and ptarmigan also
contribute towards the support of the natives; and the geese, in their
periodical flights in the spring and autumn, likewise prove a valuable
resource both to the Indians and white residents; but the principal
article of food after the moose-deer is fish; indeed it forms almost the
sole support of the traders at some of the posts. The most esteemed fish
is the Coregonus albus, the attihhawmeg of the Crees and the white-fish
of the Americans. Its usual weight is between three and four pounds, but
it has been known to reach sixteen or eighteen pounds. Three fish of the
ordinary size is the daily allowance to each man at the fort and is
considered as equivalent to two geese or eight pounds of solid
moose-meat. The fishery for the attihhawmeg lasts the whole year but is
most productive in the spawning season from the middle of Sep