e posts in the ground is a puzzle
to me, but they do fix six posts in the ground, and very firmly, and
then they build their house, which is very curious; it is in the form of
a large oven, and made of clay and fat earth, mixed up with branches and
herbs of all sorts; they have three sets of rooms, one above the other,
so that if the water rises from a freshet or sudden thaw, they may be
able to move higher and keep themselves dry. Each beaver has his own
little room, and the entrance is made under the water, so that they dive
down to go into it, and nothing can harm them."

"How very curious! and what do they live upon? Malachi?"

"The bark of what we call asp-wood, ma'am, which is a kind of sallow;
they lay up great quantities of it in the autumn as a provision for
winter, when they are frozen up for some months."

"Well, but how do you take them, Malachi?"

"There are many ways, ma'am; sometimes the Indians break down the dam,
and let off the water, and then they kill them all except a dozen of the
females and half a dozen males; after which they stop up the dam again,
that the animals may breed and increase; sometimes, when the beaver lake
is frozen hard, they break into the beaver house from the top; when they
do that, the beavers all dive and escape, but as they must come up to
breathe at the holes in the ice, they place nets and take them in that
way, but they always leave a sufficient number to keep up the stock;
they also take them in traps baited with the asp-wood; but that is more
difficult.

"But there is another sort of beaver, ma'am, called the land-beaver,
which is more easily taken," observed Martin; "they make holes in the
earth like rabbits. The Indians say that these beavers are those who are
lazy and idle, and have been driven out by the others for not working."

"Now, tell us what you do when you go out to hunt the beaver in the
winter, Malachi?"

"We never hunt the beaver only, ma'am; we go out to hunt every thing; we
go to the beaver lakes, and then we set our traps for beaver, otter,
martin, minks, cats, foxes, and every other animal, some traps large and
some small. We build our hut, and set our traps all about us, and
examine them every day; we cut what flesh is good, and we employ
ourselves skinning the animals which we take."

"Is the beaver flesh good?"

"Yes, ma'am, very tolerable eating; perhaps the best we find at that
time."

"But what a miserable life that must be," said Mrs