cts to join
together, and take up one of those logs, which they must carry to their
house or dam, as occasion requires. He walks in state by them all the
while, and sees that every one bears his equal share of the burthen;
while he bites with his teeth, and lashes with his tail, those that lag
behind, and do not lend all their strength; their way of carriage is
upon their tail. They commonly build their houses in swamps, and then to
raise the water to a convenient height, they make a dam with logs, and a
binding fort of clay, so firm, that though the water runs continually
over, it cannot wash it away. Within these dams they'll inclose water
enough to make a pool like a mill pond; and if a mill happen to be built
on the same stream, below their dam, the miller, in a dry season, finds
it worth his while to cut it, to supply his mill with water. Upon which
disaster the beavers are so expert at their work, that in one or two
nights' time they will repair the breach, and make it perfectly whole
again. Sometimes they build their houses in a broad marsh, where the
tide ebbs and flows, and then they make no dam at all. The doors into
their houses are under water. I have been at the demolishing of one of
these houses, that was found in a marsh, and was surprised to find it
fortified with logs, that were six feet long, and ten inches through,
and had been carried at least one hundred and fifty yards. This house
was three stories high, and contained five rooms, that is to say, two in
the lower, two in the middle story, and but one at the top. These
creatures have a great deal of policy, and know how to defeat all the
subtilty and stratagems of the hunter, who seldom can meet with them,
tho' they are in great numbers all over the country.

Sec. 94. There is yet another kind of sport, which the young people take
great delight in, and that is, the hunting of wild horses; which they
pursue sometimes with dogs, and sometimes without. You must know they
have many horses foaled in the woods of the uplands, that never were in
hand, and are as shy as any savage creature. These having no mark upon
them, belong to him that first takes them. However, the captor commonly
purchases these horses very dear, by spoiling better in the pursuit; in
which case he has little to make himself amends, besides the pleasure of
the chase. And very often this is all he has for it; for the wild horses
are so swift, that 'tis difficult to catch them; and when t