agonies. From a state of perfect rest, the terrible monster threw its tail on high as when in sport; but its blows were trebled in rapidity and violence, till all was hid from view by a pyramid of foam that was deeply dyed with blood. The roarings of the fish were like the bellowings of a herd of bulls; and to one who was ignorant of the fact, it would have appeared as if a thousand monsters were engaged in deadly combat behind the bloody mist that obstructed the view. 14. Gradually these efforts subsided; and, when the discolored water again settled down to the long and regular swell of the ocean, the fish was seen exhausted, and yielding passively to its fate. As life departed, the enormous black mass rolled to one side; and, when the white and glistening skin of the belly became apparent, the seamen well knew that their victory was achieved. 1. ONE cannot fail to be struck with admiration and astonishment on visiting the haunts of the beaver; nor can we wonder that the red men should place him at the head of animal creation. The beaver is the original lumberman, and the first of hydraulic engineers. Simple and unostentatious, his food is the bark of trees, and his dwelling a mud cabin. 2. North America is the principal home of this animal; but it is also common on the Euphrates, and along some of the larger European rivers. Water seems to be an absolute necessity for the beaver, and it is of the utmost importance to the animal that the stream near which it lives should not grow dry. In order to avert such a misfortune, the beaver knows how to keep the water always at or about the same height, or, at all events, to prevent it from sinking below the requisite level. - 3. If any modern engineer were asked how to attain such an object, he would probably point to the nearest water-mill, and say that the problem had there been satisfactorily solved, a dam having been built across the stream so as to raise the water to the requisite height, and to allow the superfluous water to flow away. Now, water is as needful for the beaver as for the miller; and long before millers ever invented dams, or before men ever learned to grind corn, the beaver knew how to make a dam and insure itself a constant supply of water. 4. When the animal has fixed upon a tree which it believes to be suitable for its purpose, it begins by sitting upright, and with its chisel-like teeth cutting a bold groove completely round the trunk. It then widens the groove, and always makes it wide in exact proportion to its depth, so that when the tree is nearly cut through it looks something like the contracted portion of an hour-glass. When this stage has been reached, the beaver looks anxiously at the tree, and views it on every side, as if desirous of measuring the direction in which it is to fall. Having settled this question, it goes to the opposite side of the tree, and with two or three powerful bites cuts away the wood, so that the tree becomes overbalanced and falls to the ground. The animal then proceeds to cut up the fallen trunk into logs, usually a yard or so in length. 5. The next part of the task is to make these logs into a dam. This is by no means placed at random in the stream, just where a few logs may have happened to lodge, but is set exactly where it is wanted, and so made as to suit the force of the current. In those places where the stream runs slowly, the dam is carried straight across the river; but where the water has much power, the barrier is made in a convex shape, to resist its force. The power of the stream can therefore always be inferred from the shape of the dam which the beavers have built across it. Some of these dams are of very great size, measuring two or three hundred yards in length and ten or twelve feet in thick ness. 6. The dam is formed, not by forcing the ends of the logs into the bed of the river, but by laying them horizontally, and covering them with stones and earth until they can resist the force of the water. Vast numbers of logs are thus laid, and as fast as the water rises, fresh materials are added, being obtained mostly from the trunks and branches of trees which have been stripped of their bark by the beavers. After the beavers have completed their dam, it obstructs the course of the stream so completely as to intercept all large floating objects; and every log or branch that may happen to be thrown into the river is arrested by the dam, and aids in increasing its dimensions. 7. Mud and earth are also continually added by the beavers, so that in process of time the dam becomes as firm as the land through which the river passes, and is covered with fertile alluvium. Seeds soon make their way to the congenial soil, and in a dam of long standing forest trees have been known to grow, their roots adding to the general stability by binding together the materials. 8. Originally the dam is seldom more than a yard in width where it overtops the water, but these accidental additions cause a continual increase. The bark with which the logs were originally covered is not all eaten by the animals, but stripped away, and the greater part hidden under water, to serve for food in the winter time. 9. The beaver is essentially an aquatic mammal, never walking when it can swim, and seldom appearing quite at its ease upon dry land. It therefore makes its houses close to the water, and communicating with it by means of subterranean passages, one entrance of which passes into the house, or "lodge," as it is technically named, and the other into the water, so far below the surface that it cannot be closed by ice. It is therefore always possible for the beaver to gain access to the provision stores and to return to its house without being seen from the land. 10. The lodges are nearly circular in form, and much resemble the well-known snow-houses of the Esquimaux, being domed, and about half as high as they are wide, the average height being three feet and the diameter six or seven feet. These are the interior dimensions, the exterior measurement being much greater, on account of the great thickness of the walls, which are continually strengthened with mud and branches, so that during the severe frosts they are nearly as hard as stone. Each lodge will accommodate several inhabitants, whose beds are arranged round the walls. 11. It is a melancholy circumstance that the beaver is gradually disappearing, as well in America as elsewhere. So incessant has been their pursuit and so indiscriminate their slaughter, and so considerably have their numbers diminished within a century, that we might prognosticate the time when the species will cease to exist. 1. A BEAVER arrived in England in the winter of 1825, very young, being small and woolly, and without the covering of long hair that marks the adult animal. It was the sole survivor of five or six which were shipped at the same time; and it was in a very pitiable condition, —lean, and with the coat all clogged with pitch and tar. Good treatment quickly restored it to health; it grew apace, plumped out, and the fur became clean and in good condition. 2. Kindness soon made it familiar. When called by its name, “Binny," it generally answered with a little, low, plaintive cry, and came to its owner. The hearth-rug was its favorite haunt in winter evenings, and thereon it would lie, stretched out at its length, sometimes on its back, sometimes on its side, expanding its webbed toes to secure the full action of a comfortable fire on them, but always near its master. 3. The building instinct showed itself early. Before it had been a week in its new quarters, as soon as it was let out of its cage, and materials were placed in its way, it immediately went to work. Its strength, even before it |