Beaver fur

“ The beaver is an amphibious rodent whose natural environment is a pond or a sluggish stream. An industrious home body, operating on a self-imposed economy, he hews trees and builds protecting dams and apartment houses in which he cohabits with [Pg 35] other beavers, all under a system of government much like man’s.
Physically, the beaver is distinguished by his thick coat of soft fur, his hard, incisor-like teeth with which he can cut through the stoutest oak, his palmated hind feet and his horizontally-flattened, scaly tail. ”

“ Beaver?"
"Yes, my son," said the Beaver sorrowfully, "for our fur is in greater demand than ever. In the winter, which is the 'hunting season,' they do their best to force our houses with heavy weapons, and if we take to the water beneath the ice, and swim to our tunnels in the river side, they sound the ice above the banks with an iron chisel, which tells their practised ears the exact spot where our holes are to be found. Then they dig us out—and that is the end of us."
"I'm very sorry, dear Beaver," Phil whispered, stroking the shining fur that brought such trouble on its possessors. ”

“ The blackest furs are generally thickest, and consequently most esteemed; nor is the fur of the solitary beavers equal to that of those who live in society. These animals, like all other quadrupeds, shed their hair in summer, and therefore the furs of such as are taken in that season are of little value. The fur of the white beaver is esteemed because of its rarity; and the perfectly black is nearly as uncommon as the white. But, independent of the fur, which is the most valuable article, the beaver furnishes a substance which has been considerably used in medicine ”

“ Such hermits are happy fellows, lucky above the majority of beavers, who have no sunlit playground in winter; but they enjoy themselves circumspectly, knowing the danger of being caught in the open. At the slightest alarm, the faint click of snowshoes or a breath of your scent drifting downwind, every beaver disappears under the ice, giving the danger signal by slapping his broad tail on the water as he goes down; and when you hear them again they will be creeping into the living room of the lodge. Rap the roof sharply, after approaching on silent feet, and you hear plop! plop! plop! ”

“ The powerful incisor teeth of the beaver are admirably suited to the cutting through of small tree stems, of branches and twigs, whilst its flat and scaly tail serves as a rudder to a creature that always makes its home beside or in the midst of water.
The beaver is as much noted for its sagacity, and for what nowadays we call "faculty," as it is prized for its fur. One of the largest of the rodents, its body measures nearly three and a half feet in length, not taking the tail into consideration, which is eleven to twelve inches in length. ”

“ These are a few of the lessons that he learned during that adventurous summer: that the water is the beaver's element, but on land he is the laughing-stock of all who behold him; that in the water is comparative safety, but on land are many dangers; that the otter is the beaver's deadly enemy, always to be avoided if possible; that minks and muskrats are harmless little creatures, but not suitable company for a self-respecting beaver; that sweet-smelling meat, for which you do not have to work, is dangerous and bites like a clam, holding on even more persistently. ”

“ The Beaver soon found that he was out of the otter's reach, and with his fears relieved on that point he set to work to free himself from the trap. Round and round he twisted, till there came a little snap, and the bone of his arm broke short off in the steel jaws. Then for a long, long time he pulled and pulled with all his might, and at last the tough skin was rent apart, and the muscles and sinews were torn out by the roots. ”

“ The beavers, and the kingfishers, and the ospreys, of course, know everything that goes on along the rivers. Nothing can pass upstream or down without going by the beaver-dams, and the beavers are always on the watch. You might linger about a beaver-dam all day, and except for the smell, which a man would not notice, you would not believe there was a beaver near. But they are watching you from the cracks and holes in their homes, and in the evening, if they are not afraid of you, you will be astonished to see twenty or thirty beavers come out to play about what you thought was an empty house. ”

“ Among these sprouts the beaver had fashioned a nest, and was lying curled up, asleep, when Mortimer, drifting silently down within short range, raised his gun and shot at it.
But the beaver is a "hard-lived" animal, and, even when shot at such close quarters, will quite frequently flop off its perch into the water, and, clutching with teeth and claws into roots or grass at the bottom, remain there. ”

“ With hind feet webbed up to the claws, and his broad tail as a rudder, the beaver has so much swimming power that his fore legs are free to carry and place the wood, while his broad orange-coloured teeth, as sharp as chisels, which grow as fast as he wears them away, are his cutting instruments. ”

“ The Beaver dived like a loon and swam for dear life, and he did not come to the surface again till he had reached the farther end of the pond and was out of sight behind a grassy point. There he stayed, now and [32] then striking the water with his tail as a signal that the danger was not yet over. It isn't every animal that can use his caudal appendage as a stool, as a rudder, as a third hind leg, as a trowel for smoothing the floor of his house, and as a tocsin for alarming his fellow-citizens. ”

“ The fur of the beaver, by reason of its softness and density, is one of the most valuable yielded by any animal, and in former times was the staple of the fur trade, especially in America, when the early prosperity of Canada and New York was based upon it. (For statistics see Furs and the Fur Trade.) It is probable that only the invention of silk-plush applied to the making of hats saved the animal from extinction long ago. Beavers were obtained mainly by wasteful methods of trapping, and they are so obtained yet, and chiefly in winter. ”

“ The BEAVER (Castor fiber, Fig. 25.) is a quadruped, with smooth, glossy, and chesnut-coloured hair; and a flat, oval, and naked tail, marked into scaly divisions, somewhat like the skin of a fish. These animals inhabit the banks of rivers and lakes in woody and unfrequented parts of the north of Europe, Asia, and America: their general length is betwixt two and three feet. In ancient times the beaver is supposed to have been found wild in this country, and its skin was so valuable as to constitute the chief and most valuable fur which the island produced. ”

“ At that moment a terrible thumping sound was heard.
“What is that!” exclaimed Tiny, unconsciously drawing nearer to Reynard for protection.
“It is a warning for us to keep quiet,” said the fox. “Billy Beaver, the janitor, makes that noise with his tail whenever we become boisterous at night. You know that whenever a beaver wishes to warn his companions that danger is near, he makes a thumping sound with his tail. Really, the only clever thing about a beaver is his tail.”
The fireflies settled down to rest, leaving the roommates in darkness. ”

“ Promptly had everyone obeyed Mr Ross, who had uttered these commands. He had placed the boys where they could easily see the wonderful way in which these experienced hunters would quickly gather up their beaver harvest after all their effort and toil.
But where are the beavers? They are in all probability out under the ice, swimming about from one kitchen to another, vainly trying to find one in which they can get their lungs full of fresh air. If the men and those saucy little dogs have been successful in closing up all of these resorts, vain are the beavers’ efforts. ”

“ The Common Beaver is an aquatic animal; the structure of its feet and tail enables it to swim with perfect facility. As these animals live principally upon the bark of trees and other hard substances, their front teeth are excessively strong, and by their assistance they are enabled to cut down trees of considerable size, to be used in the construction of the curious edifices for the erection of which they have been long celebrated. Their mode of building, as adopted by the Beaver of America, is described by Hearne with great exactness. ”

“ It is generally allowed that the beaver, far from having a superiority over other animals, seems to be inferior to many of them, in his merely individual qualities; and this fact I am enabled to confirm, by having had a young beaver, which was sent me from Canada, in 1758, alive in my possession for more than a twelvemonth. This animal is mild, peaceable, and familiar; it is rather inclined to be gloomy and melancholy ”

“ That the carrier is dragged by its tail with the wood, lying on its back, by the other beavers, is a fabulous tale. The tail of a beaver is not large and long, as the ancients remark. The largest are not larger and broader than a man's hand, without the thumb. Their tails also are tender and would not bear pulling by the same with the sharp teeth of another beaver. ”

“ As we wished to make a long excursion, we started at daybreak; that is to say, Reuben, Quambo, and I, with the dogs. Reuben had a great desire to see a beaver settlement which I had once visited when we first came into that part of the country; and I thought that I could find my way to it. Quambo amused us, as we walked along, with all sorts of tales about beavers, raccoons, opossums, bears, and other animals, with the habits of which he was well acquainted.
The beaver is a good-sized animal, being two and a half feet long exclusive of the tail, which is one foot more. ”

“ The toes of the forefeet are not webbed, as are those of the hind ones, nor do they aid in swimming, being then pressed against the body, but are used more as hands, at least for the purposes of architecture. With them the beaver scoops up the mud, and holding it between them or pressed against his throat, walks upright to his dam like a little mannikin in a brown fur coat. It used to be thought that the broad, naked tail served the beaver as a trowel, for the laying and plastering of the mud. ”

“ Three young beaver make a pretty solid lump on a man's back, but a hunter may leave moose meat and bear's meat in the bush to a chance wolf, but beaver, no! hardly! even if he has to make double trips. Na-ta-way had carried heavy weights slung by a portage strap across his forehead from childhood and could well support and carry what he now had.
I well remember that night when he entered our kitchen and let slide off his back that mixture of beaver, mink and bear skin. In fourteen hours he had walked about ten miles and killed: 1 moose, 1 mink, 1 bear and 3 beaver. ”

“ The beaver uses its fore-feet like hands, with as much facility as a squirrel; the toes of the hind-feet being connected by a strong membrane, supply the place of fins, and expand like those of a goose, which the beaver somewhat resembles in its walk. He swims much better than he runs; and as his fore-legs are much shorter than his hind ones, he always moves along with his head very low and his back arched. ”

“ Then, on the other hand, we're not so very far from where the Utes range, and it would seem to me only natural that some of their young men might run across a place like this and try to get the fur. Of course, if they had come they would have made a scatteration of these beaver by tearing down the dams and getting as many of the animals as they could out of the houses. But nothing has been disturbed; there's no sign of white people or Indians, [Pg 135] and, what is a great deal better evidence, the beaver are absolutely tame. ”

“ The beavers, on the other hand, are not only social by dwelling near each other, but by joining in a work which is intended for the benefit of the community.” As everyone knows, the beaver is an aquatic animal, as is sufficiently indicated by his appearance. He has a dense, woolly coat, which, as in the case of the otter and the still more water-loving seals, is protected by an outer covering of long, smooth hairs, which are of a reddish brown colour. ”

“ The old bear and the two cubs came out upon the lake just at the dam, and as there was a fresh wind blowing from up-stream, beaver scent was strong.
Then the countenance of the old bear, which was usually droll and good natured, became cunning and eager with the thought of beaver meat.
The conical beaver houses were out on an island some distance from the shore so the old bear tried the ice and found that it held. Then she went slipping and sliding over the smooth surface to the island, closely followed by the cubs. ”

“ This happened when the hunter's dog and a beaver were striving for the mastery, and the hunter stooped down to help his dog; when the beaver missing the dog probably, in terror and misery, bit the hunter in his shoulder.
That the beavers are subtle animals appears by the construction of their houses, and in rearing their young, which we will presently relate, with their continual watch, which they keep to prevent surprise and being taken; which, we are informed, they keep at every house, for the beavers commonly have six or seven in a family in every house, at which they in turn keep watch. ”

“ So strong are their fore-teeth, and so calculated for gnawing, that if shut up in a box, they soon make a hole large enough to escape through, a faculty which they possess in common with [140] the beaver. They do not swim so fast, or so long as the beaver, and are often seen upon the ground; they run very indifferently, and in their walk they waddle like a goose. Their skin retains the smell of musk, which renders it of little value to the furriers, but their under hair, or down, is used in the manufacture of hats. ”