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" A subject which has, from the very inception of colonization, been associated with the in- dustrial and commercial development, and indirectly, with the social life, the romance^ and, to a considerable extent, even with the wars of Canada." John Reade. ^- /^, - i' W Q >— t H w O W W pa o to ifl^-i W^^ C A )J IGIA .\V Ml Q H w w \' ^N BEAVER ORACE . u -V WRITTEN ■LLrsrPr{~''r m «-*3 z / ^.a.- /».J « " u Cross, S.W. .-i rmrissi '<^-^. .. .. ■ - — t ■'.■ . V* > * ^ CASTOROLOGIA OR Till'. .;:P ■•*-■ II HISTORY AND TRADITIONS OF THE CANADIAN BEAVER. BY HORACE T. MARTIN, F.Z.S.,&c. AN EXIIAUSTIVK MONOGRAril, POPULARLY WRITTEN FULL Y ILL USTRA TED. -^>*<-^ MONTREAL : WM. DRYSDALK & CO. No. 232 St. James Street. LONDON : EDWARD STANFORD, Nos. 26 & 27 CocKSPUR vStreet, Charing Cross, S. W. I8Q2. 181231 HoRAcn T. Martin, in the office of the Minister of Agriculture. DESBAHAT8 4 CO., ENGRAVERS AND PRINTERS. •-1.J- 2-31 nd BV PERMISSION DKDICATICD TO Sir J. Wm. DAWSON, I.I,.D., F.R.S, &c. IN GRATBFUI, RECOGNITION OP HIS SERVICES TO STUDENTS OF CANADIAN NATURAI, HISTORY. !5( h PRKKACK. A TRADITIONAL knowledge of the beaver' is the birthright of every Canadian ; yet, as in most cases where tradition alone is relied on, this knowledge is chiefly remarkable for its divergence from facts. As the acorn, falling on favorable soil, sends forth the slender shoot, which time and circumstance may model into a grotesque fetish for minds ignorant, or forget- ful of the simplicity of its origin ; so. the facts of science, if nurtured by tradition, soon lose shape, and multitudes venerate the fabulous stories of dragon or beaver, with total disregard to outraged reason. Iconoclasm must, therefore, do its work, dis- tasteful as its spirit may be ; for rather should we add, than take away one tittle of our nation's lore ; but such statements as can- not stand the search-light test of truth, must rank as fable ; and while our story may lose some of its glamour when studied rationally, we surely do not need the chimerical to arouse our interest. . Canada has been known for nearly three centuries as "the home of the beaver," and for over two hundred years this animal contributed to Canada's most substantial advancement : inspiring adventures, stimulating enterprize, and laying the .strong founda- tions of our commercial development. Thus has the beaver played its part in the romance of our early history ; the central figure around which waged the wars of nations, while powerful corpo- rations and petty adventurers fought for monopolies few were able to control. The history of the beaver in Great Britain, has been concisely recorded by J. E. Harting ; while an extensive volume, the work of Morgan and Ely, treats of the beaver in the United States. Conspicuous for original contributions on the Canadian beaver, we recognize Cartwright, in I^abrador ; Hardy, in New Bruns- wick ; Venner, in Quebec ; Wilson, in Ontario ; and Green, in the Far West ; but all these are eclipsed by Samuel Hearne, the Hudson's Bay explorer and writer, whose observations will be worth, for all time, verbatim copy. Dr. Richardson's monumental tome, though written half a century later, scarcely extends in the least our knowledge of this subject. To trace the tangled threads of the earlier chronicles, and to produce a worthy fabric, requires for every strand a mind peculiar to the theme — the patience and keen observance of the Antiquary — the genius of the Historian — the broad knowledge of the Biologist — all these at least, and with these, the general love for the study of Nature. This last has been my slender equipment, but I have easily enlisted sympathetic help from members of the Anti- quarian Society, the Society for Historical Studies, and the Natural History Society of Montreal. To the Hon. Edward Murphy and to Mr. P. S. Murphy I am indebted for antiquarian notes ; for the elucidation of many historical problems my thanks are due to Mr. Henry Mott and Mr. Gerald E. Hart ; while for many kind and valuable services I am deeply grateful to Sir J. Wm. Dawson. Among my correspondents manj^ have evinced a prac- tical interest, and I am proud to acknowledge many items from the fluent pen of Mr. J. M. I^eMoine. During my sojourns abroad I received most friendly assistance, and acknowledge my obliga- tions to Mr. T. F. Moore, Derby Museum, Uverpool ; Mr. Chas. N. Read, Brit. Mus. (Ethnography) ; Mr. Oldfield Thomas and Mr. A. Smith Woodward, Brit. Mus. (Natural HistorjO ; Mr. A. D. Bartlett, Regents Park Gardens ; and Mr. P. A. Sclater, Sec'y. Zool. Society, London ; who made available to me the privileges of those ,1 !, XI magnificent institutions. My numero„« ™ j- friends have, with a marvellons parncrenduredle' """"'"^ my demands for informations =„^ ", / , ^^ """^ >'"='>™ my greatest eneonraglent ' "" 'he.r sympathy has been so — ri^urd^x^the^tron-^nitr^^^^^^^^^^^^^ '>- public this, my initial volnm! '^^^!P''"^''''^'t>' °f bringing before the which make ou gelt Domlnio^^^^^^ totem. ' ^ INTRODUCTION, CANADA offers to the naturalist an exceptional invitation, in her grand possessions of primeval forest, trackless prairie, mountain ranges, lakes and rivers. Nature's domain is, however, so vast, that the mind is perplexed with the endless beauty of the panorama, and instead of boldly pressing on nature, for the unfolding of her secrets, the observer pauses before the great chain of interdependent phenomena. The subject as a whole, being beyond the grasp of most minds, contentment will be found in selecting a minor feature, and devoting to it close study. The early adventurers in the New World met with many novel- ties and the interest manifested in these discoveries called forth accounts concerning them. Though the temptation to startle the Old World readers by fabulous tales, was frequently yielded to, all the early records are valuable, as containing the germs of our cur- rent traditions. The discovery of the Canadian Beaver was coincident with the discovery of Canada. From the earliest days, the animal was recog- nized as of great importance to Canada, and this association has given her the beaver as a national symbol. The name of the Indian village, Hochelaga, visited by Jacques Cartier in 1536, is an Algon- quin word, .signifying "beaver- meadows," and as colonies of beavers were not unusually found in the immediate vicinity of the Indian '..:! CASTOROLOGIA. settlements, we may reasonably infer that much of the present site of the city of Montreal, was then occupied by them. It was not, however, till the establishing of the fur-trading post at (Juebec in 1604, and at Montreal in 161 1, that the connnercial importance was taken advantage of, and the destruction of the beaver hosts began. Though the beaver trade of Canada .soon assumed proportions commanding the attention of Parliament, it FIGURK OK A BEAVER FROM THE EARLIEST KNOWN MONOGRAPH— 16S5. was two centuries later, before science manifested any interest. In 1820, Kuhl published a description of a Canadian beaver, then in the British Museum, and named it Castor Canadensis, thus creating a specific name in contradistinction to Castor En ropcnts^Wxe. European beaver. In size the creatures were much alike ; in color the Kuro- pean was not .so dark, but no difference of any moment was detected, till, in 1825, Frederick Cuvier pointed out a difference in the skulls, which has since been recognized as establishing the species. Kuhl's, being the first distinctive name published to science, by the rules of CASTORuuOGIA. le ht il le 11 it scientific noincnclature takes i>receclence, hence we have, fixtcl be- yond dispute, the scientific binonien, Castor Canadensis, giving the popular form, the Canadian heaver. The Kuropean beaver had formerly been widely spread over the Old World, and it had earned a conspicuous place in the thoughts of men, as early as the days of Heredotus, 420 to 480, B.C. The Greeks called it Castor, ironx gastro — the stomach, having reference to the appearance of the animal ; while in Latin, we find many records of it under the names, " fibre," " fil)er " and " fibir ; " cor- rupted from Jibnim, and signifying that the animal dwelt on the banks or edges of the rivers and streams. There is also a Latin form, "beber," with which there is evident connection in the Ger- man "biber," the old French "beavre," and the Anglo-Saxon "beofer," "befer," and "beaver." As the determining of scientific names rests absolutely on the rule of priority, regardless of correct- ness or .suitability, many gross anomalies occur ; but in the present case no alteration or improvement could be wished for, as the scientific name admits of translation into terms fairly descriptive of the creature and its habits. With this general introduction, enquiry may now be made regarding the antecedents of the beaver, and though the Old World records date very early, the traditions of the North American Indians, which associate the beaver with the creation of the world, merit first consideration. f 11 >M Ar)ne des Hurons. I ■ i I /s MYTHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE. " vShould you ask me, whence these stories? Whence these legends and traditions, With the odors of the forest, "With the dew and damp of meadows. With the curling smoke of wigwams, . I should answer, I should tell you, ' From the forest and the prairies, From the great lakes of the Northland, From the land of the Ojibways, From the land of the Dacotahs, . . I repeat them as I heard them From the lips of Nawadiha, The musician, the sweet singer. ' Should you ask where Nawadaha Found these songs, so wild and wayward, Found these legends and traditions, I should answer, I should tell you, * In the birds'-nests of the forest. In the lodges of the beaver,' " . — The Soug of Hiawaiha. ■'•,i i CHAPTER I. Traditions Coxcrrning thk Bkavicr and tiik World's Crkation — rRODIGIICS ASCRIUKD TO EaR1,Y MKMBERS — TnE BEAVER AS THE Progenitor ok Man — Supposed Influence oe Beaver Ghosts — Reverence with which the Beaver is Treated — Beaver Fables — Early Colonial vSuperstitions Regarding Animal Life. Before relating what may be called the sacred legends of the beaver, it may be well, first, to consider the people in whose minds the stories originated. It is generally admitted that climate has a re- markable effect on character, and with all the varieties from tropical to arctic, included in the original habitat of the Indians, a great diversity of character might be expected. In fact, they cannot be studied as one people, any more than could the present inhabitants of Europe, be descril^ed in one simple phrase. T'uis, to the South, there were the " Digger " Indians, and the "Fishing" tribe.s — in- different and unprogressivc — and with them, the robber bands who preyed upon them. Further to the North a sturdier race, the great warriors, distracting their neighbours, north and south, making captives and generally playing the part of a military nation ; while on this plane would be included settled and industrious tribes, such as the Hochelagans. Still higher in latitude the hardy fur-hunters, whose dealings with the Hudson's Bay Company for over two centuries, furnish ample ground for the conception of the noble possibilities of the " redniau ; " and with such names as Pontiac, Tecumseth and Brant, illuminating the pages of our history, we need not choose tj-pes from the poor wretches who have fallen heir to our vices only. Then may we hold more respect for our red-skinned ])rother, and treat with reverence those traditions which to him were most sacred. lO CASTOROLOGIA. r I While the Indian cannot justly be classified among the spirit- worshippers, though he had clear conceptions of spirits and a spirit- world, yet he is much above the range of fetishism, and may most properly be considered as a nature-worshipper. Being of a medita- tive mind, he reasoned far beyond the visible world, though he based his belief on material evidence. It was a logical process of reasoning that brought him to face the problem of tb ; world's creation. He believed the world was all covered with water in the beginning, and he peopled it with the beaver, the musquash and the otter, whose aquatic habits we can easih' understand must have impressed him. But, as the building of the world was a prodigious task, these animals were all of gigantic size. They dived and brought up the mud with which the great spirit — the Manitou — made the earth. Then the features of the earth, the mountain ranges, cataracts and caves, were all the works of the giant beavers ; and the erratic boulders, which, in many places, stand so conspicu- ously in our landscape, were the missies thrown by enraged spirits at offending beavers. ?!i When the world became ready for the introduction of man, the Indian pliilosophy solved the problem in a way that was curious and masterly. The animals were said to have been endowed with speech, and seemed to have used the gift even as v.'icked mortals often do, accordingly, the great Manitou woul''^ frequently be vexed, and his wrath caused him at times to slay the evil-doer. Then, by a beautiful adaptation of the idea of the transmigration of spirits, man came forth as the spirit of the departed animal, and bore hence- forth a likeness in character to the animal from which he sprang. Tiie Amikonas, or " People of the Beaver," an Algonquin tribe of Lake Huron, claimed descent from the carcass of the great original beaver, or father of the beavers ; and the beaver was one of the eight clans of the Iroquois. In the wonderful totem-poles of the Queen Charlotte Islanders, a prominent place is afforded the beaver, and doubtless the Hochelagans, or "Indians of the Beaver-Meadow," held the creature in high esteem. The Manitou was good to man, and to make him chief among * i!i 4 if^: I i Ir ij t CASTOROLOGIA. 13 all living things, the Good Spirit "smoothed with his hand the giant beasts, making them gradually .smaller," and then he deprived them of the power of speech. Though animals were thus subjected to man, both were accountable to the Manitou ; and even the animals and their departed spirits had powers affecting man. Many records relate the petitions of the Hunter before starting for the chase, which invariably included the promise of all reverence to be paid his victims. In this respect, the beaver, as the most valuable con- tributor to the social economy of the Indian, was the object of special regard, and roasted beaver was the highest desire of the Indian. After the feast the sacred bone was raised to its altar, an evidence of honor paid to the departed beaver, and then the remains were gathered with care and returned to the water, so that the dogs touched none of it. Woe to the luckless hunter who did dishonor to the bones of the beaver, and thus displeased the spirits ; the beavers at once became shy, and in vain might he lay his traps. 'V Many of these matters may seem childi.sh and unworthy serious repetition, but surely they are of more profit than the fabulous accounts of the beaver which practically constitute the popular range of beaver literature. The animal itself has been represented in forms the most grotesque, some of which are selected as the illustrations of this chapter ; and his works have been exaggerated beyond all recognition. The dam has been described as formed of stakes five or six feet long driven into the ground in rows, with pliant twigs wattled between "as hurdles are made;" and the lodge has been extended to a five story building with windows and other conveniences ; while in the erection of these, the tail has been converted into a vehicle for conveying the materials, a pile-driver for placing the stakes, and a trowel for plastering the house. In fact as Hearne wrote in 1771, the only thing that remained to make their natural history complete, was the adding of " a vocabulary of their language, a code of their laws, and a sketch of their religion " Either from a misinterpretation of the Indian legends, or a mis- use of the imaginative faculties, or from both, there exists univer- sally in the early colonial writings the most astonishing references m^ I. H CASTOROI.OGIA. to the Wild annuals of the co,i„tr>'. and the following quotation will show the extreme to which these fancies reached : "On the borders of Canada, animals are now and again seen resembling a horse- they have cloven hoofs, shaggy manes, a horn right out of the forehead a tail like a wild hog." This creature was figured by Arnoldus Montanus, in 1671 with some of the other animals of the New World, including the braver, and will easily be recognized in the accompanying group of chim- eras, which IS reproduced from the copy in the Documentary^ His- tory of New York. THH BEAVER AND HIS FAMOUS I.ODGES. FROM AX OLD PRINT, 1755. I i i 1 '4 MAMMOTH BEAVERS. ill i Ml' t- " To the beavers l^-xw-PuVi-Keewi? Spake entreatiii-.;, said in this wise : ' Very pleasant is your dwelling, O my friends ! ai;d safe from danger ; Can 3'ou not with all your cunning, Al! your wisdom and contrivance, Change me, too, into a beaver? ' ' Yes,' replied Alimcek, the beaver. He the king of all the beavers, ' Let yourself slide down amon;rr -a^ Down into the tranquil water.' ffi ' Make me large," said Paw-Puk-Keewis ' ]Make me large, and make me larger, Larger than the other beavers. ' * Yes,' the beaver chief responded, * "When our lodge below }-ou enter, In our Wigwam we will make you Ten times larger than the others.' " — T/ie Himtivg jf Paw-PuK-Keewis. ► CHAPTlvR II. Indian Li;gknds of Giant Beavers— DiscovivRY of TRoooNTHKRirM, Ci"\'iKR's Gigantic Bicaver— A Sicarcii van the Fossil. Bkavkr op North America — Castoroides Oiiioicnsis— Ricflections on the Form and Characteristics of these Animals — The Changes of Fauna in Recent Times. \¥ We have alread> told how the Indians, basing their arguments on material phenoin -na, reasoned as to the formation of the various features of the earth, and by introducing the industrious beaver, they explained many of the characteristics of the landscape which to them appeared like the beaver's work ; but, the proportions being so disparaging as to necessitate the conception of animals with more power and knowledge, we find a belief in the Indian mind concern- ing giant beavers and their herculean work. Many of these stories occur in the Eskimo legends, and the range may be said to extend over the whole of North America, and to occupy a foremost place in the thought of all its varying inhabitants. Pitetot records a legend of the West, wherein the tooth of the great beaver was made into an adze for hollowing out logs of wood for canoes. In the Algonquin Legends of New England, Clias. Leland introduces Quah- beet, the giant beaver, the clapping of whose tail made the thunders; and with all the strength of local coloring is told its various accom- plishments towards shaping the earth. The Micmacs recognized the site of a beaver-dam which once flooded the Annapolis Valley ; and they say the bones of the beavers who built this dam may still be found, and the teeth are six inches across. According to a tra- dition of the Ojibways, there was an immense beaver in some part of Lake Superior. The Indians point out an island in the lake, about two miles long, and one and a third broad, and say that the beaver spoken of was the same size. Another stor>' relates how '/ ^k i8 CASTOKOI.OdlA. Nanahho/.lio went ojie morning to I^akc Superior for the purpose of catching a heaver for his breakfast, lie succeeded in dislodging a young heaver and cliased it towards the Sault Ste. Marie ; a stone, thirty feet in diameter, to be seen to-day on the shores of Lake Michigan, was a missile used by Nanahbo/.ho in this chase. The heaver was eventually caught in the Ottawa, and its head was dashed against the rocky banks of the river where the Indians say the marks of blood are still to be seen. In 182S, an English scientist, Mr. Charles Fothergill, made a short sojourn in Montreal preparatory' to vi.siting our great lone lands. During his stay in our city, it happened that the Natural IILstory Society had invited essays on the subject of the "Quadru- peds of British North America," offering a prize for the best contri- bution. !Mr. Fothergill became a party to the contest, thus eviden- cing his knowledge of our fauna, and in the course of his paper he makes the extraordinary admission that he has visited Canada with a view of searching our great North-Western Provinces, if perchance he might still find living evidence of " the Mammoth, the great IClk of the Antideluvians, and the giant Beaver; especially," says Mr. Fothergill, "as the Indians have many legends concerning these mammals, and Indian legends are seldom without some truth for their foundation." The essay is a most interesting and valuable survey of our mammals, and such faith had the essayist in the objects of his search, that he enumerates, among Canadian animals the Great Beaver, and says : — "I have been induced to name the Great Beaver in this cata- logue because there is pretty certain evidence of the existence of such an animal in various parts of the interior towards the North- West. The Indians of many tribes firmly believe in its existence, and assert they have often seen it. I will take, or endeavour to take, an early opportunity to lay before the society such evidences as are in my possession to prove the fact ; in the meanwhile, I will merely remark that the skull which was found on the banks of the Dela- ware nearly forty years ago — which induced the naturalists of the United States to create a new genus under the title of Asteopcra — .> CASTOROLOdlA. 19 ntul which skull is still prcscn-ed in the Philadelphia Museum, in my mind belonged, beyond all doubt, to this animal, which is still in existence in our remote lakes and rivers in the interior." Surely the essayist could not have known of the accomplish- ments of Sir Alexander Mackenzie, the discoverer of the Mackenzie River, in 17S9 ; and of David Thompson the geoj^rapher of the North West Company, whose knowledge of the further north-west became the basis of all later surveying. It is easily possible to conjecture the fate of such a .scheme, in di.scus.sion before the members of the " Beaver Club," for among them could be counted those who were personally accptainted with the greater part of the "fur-country," and their accumulated experience may be .said to have exh.austed the barest ])o.ssibility of the existence in the flesh of the Great Beaver. A close relationship may, however, be traced through the liuro- pean fossil which was first discovered by M. Gothelf de Fi.scher, in the sandy borders of the Sea of Azof ; and which has since been found at Ostend, Belgium ; and at Cromer, and Walker's Cliff in Norfolk, Kngland, together with the bones of the ^lammoth and the Rhinoceros. The animal was named after Cuvier, the eminent Palaeontologist ; Trogonihcriiini Ocvicri, or Cuvier" s Gigantic Beaver. A figure of the fossil was sent to Cuvier, who claimed for it so close an affniity with the beavers as to rank in the same genus, and he proposed the name Castor Trogonthcrium. He says that ' ' the teeth and all the forms of the head bear the character of the beaver ; and it could not be di.stinguished from the head of the adult beaver of Canada if the fossil were not one-fourth larger. How- ever, as it is not certain that w^e pos.sess the skulls of the.se existing beavers which attain the largest size ; and since the beaver formerly inhabited, and .still, perhaps, inhabits the shores of Kuxine ; .since, also, nearly all the borders of the Sea of Azof, are but vast alluvial formations, — I think one ought to know precisely the matrix of the .skull in question before deciding it belonged to an extinct animal." These remarks appeared in 1S12, and again in a second edition in 1823 ; and may possibly have been the in.spiration under which Mr. Fothergill set out to discover the American representative. ) > i i , F JO CASTOROLOGIA. :( '. '1 i I I For those who were conversant with the traditions of the giant heaver, and, who, hke the essayist quoted, beheved that the Indian legends were based on fact, a triumph was close at hand. In 1837, in the Report of the Geology of Ohio, Mr. J. \V. Foster called the attention of .science to the discovery of a fossil, suggesting an extinct animal of the Order Rodentia ; and in 1S38 he t^ave a description of the lower jaw, which he had found at Xa.shport, Licking County, Ohio, under tlie name of Castoroidcs Ohiocnsis. Ten years later the nearly perfect skull was obtained by the Rev. Benjamin Hale, of Geneva College, and on this specimen a monograph was pre;>ared by IMessrs. Hall & Wyman, which appeared in the Boston Journal of Natural History in 1847. Since then specimens have been found at Clyde, Wayne Count}-, New York ; Memphis, Tennes.see ; neur Charleston and Schawneetown, Illinoi^ ; ahso in Michigan, Missi.s- sippi, Loui.siana, Texas and South Carolina ; giving a known habitat extending from the vStates of New York and South Carolina, westward to Michigan and Texas. These fragments do not, how- ever, give any knowledge concerning the general form and charac- teristics of the animal, for they are all parts of the skull only, and are mainly but pieces of the teeth. Ivnougli, however, has been determined to alh' the animal closely with the beaver, and it is popularly called the " Fossil Beaver of North America." Though it is po.ssible to recognize a likeness in dentition and cranial char- acter with the genus Cas/or, it must not be implied that its habits and form were identical with the beaver as we know it to-day ; a glance at the accompanying plate shows that the brain capacity is smaller than the beaver, and this alone indicates essential diflfer- ences of cimracter ; in fact there are some features more clearlj- resembling the Cajn-bara, and yet there is enough difference from either to constitute a new genus. The age to which both these fossil animals belonged is a matter of importance, as also, is the fact that they lived within historic times, and were, doubtless, well known to the early races of men. The period is comprehended in geologic terms, as the "Quaternary, or Age of Man," and though it is .spoken of geologically as recent, anj' calculation in years would be stupen- V [ -! i^ w w lit' ' CASTOROI.OGIA. 23 dous, as a passing stud)- of the age will show. Dana says : " America in the Quaternary era was inferior to Europe in the number of its Carnivores, but exhibited the gigantic feature of the life of its time in its species. In Xorth America the mammals in- cluded an elephant {Elcphas Amcricanus) as large as the Euro^/ean, besides the Asiatic, {Elephas Primcgenius) in the more northern latitudes ; a mastodon (^Mastodon Americatiiis) of still greater mag- nitude ; horses much larger than the modern ; species of ox, bison, tapir, gigantic beavers, etc." In the " Handbook of Canadian Geology," Sir William Dawson divides the Quaternary into Pleistocene and Modern ; and the latter is again divided into two periods and treated as follows : — O " I. The Post Glacial. The climate was temperate but some- what extreme. All the modern mammals, includin man, seem to have been in existence, but several others now extinct, as the Mam- moth, the Tichorhine Rhinoceros and the Cave Bear, lived in the Northern Hemisphere, .... This period was terminated by a submergence or a series of submergences which with their accom- panying physical changes proved fatal to many species of animals and to the oldest races of men, and left the continents at a lower level than at present, from which they have risen in the recent period . . . "2. The Recent or Historic Period. This dates from the settle- ment of our continents at the present levels after the Post-Glacial subsidence. I - I' " I have called this the Historic Period, because in some regions history and tradition extend back to its beginnings. The historical deluge is in all likelihood identical with the movements of the land above referred to, 1)y which this age was inaugurated ; though in certain localities, as in America, the beginning of the historic period is very recent. In this age man co-exists wholly with existing species of mammals, and the races of men are the same which still survive. The whole forms geologically one period, and the distinc- 24 CASTOROLOGIA. tions made by antiquarians between stone, bronze and iron ages, and under the former between palaeolithic and neolithic, are merely of local significance and connected with no physical or vital changes of geological importance. The real geological distinction is that of Palseocosmic, Post-glacial or Antediluvian man on the one hand and Neocosmic, Recent or Post-diluvian on the other. The Palaeo- cosmic men have been divided in two races, the Canstadt or Nean- derthal type and the Engis or Cromagnon type. Both of these were contemporaneous with the mammoth, the Tichorhine Rhinoceros and other Post-glacial animals now extinct. It is probable that they may be ultimately identified with the ruder tribes of the historical antediluvian period, and that the physical changes by which they and some other animals seem to have been destroyed, were the same with those recorded in the ancient history and traditions of all the older races of men." While yet there are many fascinating problems which geology might solve, we must pass on to consider the changes in recent fauna brought about by the advance of civilization, and for the pre- sent we very reluctantly leave the facts and the fables concerning the Great Beavers. :£?*'"* ^ I.OWKR JAW OF TROGONTHERIUM CUVIKRl. (half NATITRAL SIZK) AFTER OWEN. THE EUROPEAN BEAVER. I, r I ii " More famous long ngone, than for the salmon's leap, For bevers Tivy was, in her strong banks that bred, Which else no other brook of Britain nourished ; Where nature, in the shape of this no>v perished beast. His property did seem t' have wondrously express'd Being body'd like a boat, with such a mighty tail As served him for a bridge, a helm, or for a sail, When kind did him command the architect to play. That his strong castle built of branched twigs and clay ; Which, set upon the deep, but yet not fixed there. He easily could remove as it he pleas'd to steer To this side or to that ; the workmanship so rare. His stuff wherewith to build, first being to prepare, A foraging he goes, to groves or bushes nigh, And with his teeth cuts down his timber ; which laid by, He turns him on his back, his belly laid abroad, When, with what he hath got, the other do him load ; Till lastly, by the weight, hiu burden he have found. Then with his mighty tail his carriage, having bound As carters do with ropes, in his sharp teeth he grip'd Some stronger stick ; from which the lesser branches stript. He takes it in the midst ; at both ends the rest Hard holding with their fangs, unto the labour prest. Going backward tow'rds their home their loaded carriage led. From whom, those first here born, were taught the useful sled. Then builded he his fort for strong and several fights ; His passages contriv'd with such unusual sleights, That from the hunter oft he issu'd iindiscern'd, As if men from this lieast to fortify had learned, Whose kind, in her decay'd, is to this isle unknown, Thus Tivy boasts this beast peculiarly her own." — Dray Ion. I 7 1 I CHAPTER III. Thk 1'"ormkr Distribution- of Castor Kurop^us— Its Kxtkrmination Coincident with thk Spread of Civhization — The Beaver Extinct in Britain within Historic Times. When we consider that the age of the European beaver extended back to the days of the gigantic creatures spoken of in the last chapter, and that its distribution once included all luirope, the greater part of Asia, and northern Africa, we wonder, that we are not better acquainted with it. The fact, however, that for over two centuries, the hunting of l^eavers in America, yielded fortunes to the monopolists who controlled the traffic, would naturally attract the attention of the masses to the quarter of the world where these riches were being gathered. Canada was justly called the home of the beaver, but very incorrectly has it become popularly understood that Canada was the only home. m The peculiar association of the beaver with Solomon's wisdom, which will be referred to hereafter, indicates reasonable grounds for asserting that the beaver should have been mentioned in sacred writ ; its remarkable characteristics had been noted long before the Chris- tian era, and references to it are found in the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. The beaver has gradually disappeared before the spread of civili- zation, which first settled along the shores of the Mediterranean. As each wave covered more of Europe, the range wherein the beaver existed perceptibly narrowed and the several stages through which it has already passed in America, have all been witnessed in Europe. Undoubtedly the animal was formerly very c- /Undant in Europe ; the next stage was the alarm caused by an apparent scar- 1 !PK mmmmmmimm 28 CAST0R0I,001A. city, and the effort to prevent careless slaughter and thus prolong the existence of the last few colonies, by framing protective laws and granting exclusive privileges of hunting ; but this resulted only in heightening the ingenuity of the hunters and actually hastened the extinction of the animal. In a German charter in 1103, the right of hunting beavers was conferred along with other huntings and fishings ; and a Bull of Pope Lucius III, in the year 1182, bestowed upon a monastery the property in the beavers within their bounds ; while we read of beaver-reserves in Poland in the i6th century and know of some late settlements in France. A Prussian royal edict, dated 20th January 17 14, concerned the beavers in the Elbe, while one subsequent, issued at Berlin on the twenty-fourth day of March, 1725, insisted on the protection of the beavers, under a penalty of no less than a sum equalling two hundred dollars. But the laws of man made little difference to the laws of nature, and no artificial device could prolong appreciably the life of the Beaver in unnatural surroundings, for to-day it is a matter of amazement that a few colo- nies yet remain in the remote wilds of Scandinavia, and it seems re- markable that Siberia should still send a few beaver skins to market. A study of the history of the beaver in the British Isles will serve to illustrate more fully this question of beaver extermination, and the lesson studied here on a small scale may be applied to more impor- tant issues. Archaeologists, through their researches, have made known so perfectly the conditions of the primitive inhabitants of Great Britain that their day comes almost within historic range, and we can claim nearly as intimate acquaintance with their habits and manners as if they had left written histories. The remnants of the " dug out " canoes and the discovery of the teeth of the beaver alongside of the rude stone implements, is strong evidence of a condition of things in England very similar to what was found existing in Canada only three centuries ago, and survivals of which may even yet be found among some of our Indian tribes. The fact that bones of the beaver have been discovered in so many parts of England and Scotland, shows a very wide distribution, and doubtless, the animal ranged formerly over the whole of Great Britain. Gradually civilization f CASTOROLOGIA. 29 ' spread from the south and the east, and as surely did the beaver vanish in these quarters, till history records it remaining only in the upper waters of W^I'^'S and the highland lakes of Scotland. The beaver was, of course, regularly hunted, but the objects of the chase, according to existing records, differed curiously from the incentives which have prompted the wasteful slaughter of the American beaver, for in the early and mediaeval days of Europe, the greatest value was placed on the supposed medicinal properties, though the meat, espe- ciall)' the tail, was even then in much repute, and the wool was esteemed for its fineness. In England the beaver had served its day of domestic economy to the natives, furnishing food and clothing ; then came a period, about the twelfth century, when the animal was closely hunted for castoreum and the skin ; the large collection of .skins made this an article of export to the continent, where beaver- felt was greatly in favor. Soon, however, we read that, " Tivy boasts this beast peculiarlj' her own," and then followed a few spasmodic efforts of husbanding the beaver, till finally the creature passed from the records in 1526 and henceforth without opportunity of studying the habits of the animal, tradition enlarged the unwritten history, till we have the popular mind prepared to credit the most fabulous stories concerning the American beaver, though both species were singularly alike, and gave but little excuse for the extravagant accounts which are so freely accredited to them. ! I 1 Africa has long been without a sign of its former associations ; Europe claims one or two colonies as a matter of wonder ; Asia, from the district of the Obi River alone, continues to furnish a few skins for the fur market ; while North America remains the last stage on which are witnessed the scenes of a doomed creature, whose daj'S have been lengthened to the present, only by contributions levied upon the musquash and the coypu whose numbers have been heavil)' taxed, and whose history has thus become a necessary' part of the present monograph. ii LOWER JAW OF THE EUROPi^AN BEAVER, FROM PEAT MOSS, NEWBURY, ENGI^AND. ^NATURAL SIZE.) Jl THE MORE IMPORTANT AMERICAN RODENTS. |,| I! '• m nw 1 1 ill Is n U! "The rodeiitia constitute by far the largest order of mammals, and one of the most impor- tant from an economic standpoint. Though the species are mostly small and apparently in- significant, their relations with man are of much moment." —F. V. Hayden. "Some have gone hack to the water and imitated the fish in their ocean home ; and others, smaller and feebler, have lived on by means of their insignificance, their rapid multi- plication and their power of hiding." — Arabella B. Buckley. CHAPTER IV. Thk Ordrr Rodmntia— Tt.s Distribution— Modkrn Amkrican Ricprk- SENTATIVKS— Fi11I;R ZlIlKTHICUS, TIIK MuSK BKAVICR— Till', COYPU, OR South American Ukavkr— Thk Capyhara or Watkr-hoc; — Tin? CaNAIHAX IJlvAVKR, TIIK TVPIi RODKNT— ITS SPliCIl" IC CHARACTERS— NOTAHLK N'ARIETIIiS. The gnawing animals — the Order Rodentia or Glires — are unmis- takably characterized by their dentition, a form most familiar, which is thus technically described : " Incisor teeth, two in each jaw, very large, with sharp cutting chisel-shaped edges, fitted for gnawing. Xo canine teeth, but a wide space between the incisors and the molars." From the character >f the teeth, we learn the nature of the food the animal is best pr( ded to consume, and in the case of the Rodents the natural diet the harder vegetable substances — stalks, roots, seeds and fruits. Representatives of the order are found in all parts of the world, but America contains nearly as many species as all the rest of the world put ^o; ether. Thus America may appro- priately be called the home of the Rodentia, for not only has it the numerical advantage, but the four representatives selected for treatment in this chapter — the i..usquash, coypu, capybara and beaver, all American species — are the largest and most valuable of the Order. The Musk beaver, or Musquash of the Indians, though the smallest of the four, and less than one-fourth the size of the Cana- dian beaver, is second only to it, in commercial importance and historic lore. The musquash is the sole representative of the Genus I i i' I i, 34 CASTOROI.OGIA. Fiber, and its habitat is confined strictly to North America ; had it, however, been distributed more broadly its fame might have eclipsed that of the beaver, as it certainly will survive for generations after the last beaver has forever passed away ; for the musquash relies, not only on aquatic habits, but on ' ' rapid multiplication and the power of hiding." I FIBER ZIBETHICUS— THE MUSK BEAVER. The musquash possesses a brain both of large size and of relatively high development, it builds a home, which might easily be mis- taken for the much boasted lodge of the beaver, and it is even a greater burrower. It shares with other aquatic animals much pro- minent, e in Indian mythology, and has been a great favorite in his fables. The collection of musquash skins amounts to millions annu- ally, and being comparatively inexpensive forms an important item CASTOROLOGIA. 35 it, sed fter ies, the (^. I is- •o- lis u- m in manufacture. The meat is regularlj' marketed in season and furnishes quite a palatable dish. Formerly the fur was used simply as a substitute for beaver in hat-making, the skin went through similar processes and furnished a good imitation at a greatly reduced price ; but latterly the science of fur manipulation has made the musquash one of the most staple of all American furs ; and to-day we have imitations of seal, otter and mink, produced from the mus- quash. The animal is, perhaps, best known to us as the muskrat, but this name does not carry sufficient dignity for a creature so closely related to the beaver ; the vSpecific name applies to the secre- tion contained in two small pouches which in the spring contain a thick fluid with a decidedly musky smell. The River rat, or Coypu, as it is called by the natives, is in many ways the intermediate species between the musquash and the beaver, and having been known as the "Castors of La Plata," might appro- priately be named the South American beaver. It inhabits chiefly Brazil, Chili and La Plata, where it is very numerous ; it is the only known representative of the Genus myopotamus, and attains nearly half the average size of the beaver, and like the musquash, the coypu is very prolific. Its introduction to commerce was very recent though of great importance, and the fact should not be overlooked that but for its contribution to the hatters, our Canadian beaver would not have survived so long. All accounts from North America during the latter half of last century, which made reference at all to the fur trade, agree in stating that the beaver would soon be extinct ; but, about 1820, the immense demand was relieved b}' this nev.' fur, called nutria — (from the Spanish, nuira^ the otter.) The fur was plentiful and cheap, and sufficiently fine to supplant the beaver for all hatters' purposes, but had the discovery of silk been longer delayed it is doubtful whether the increasing demand could have been sustained for many years. When the silk hat succeeded to the enviable posi- tion which the " beaver" for centuries had monopolized, it became necessary to find other outlets for the skins which hitherto had been consumed almost exclusively by the hatters' trade. We therefore 1 f I 36 CASTOROLOGIA. find the furriers introducing the manufacture of the tanned or dressed skins into their business, and nutria, the skin of the Coypu, is to- day among the best imitations of beaver, otter and seal. *> MYOPOTAMUS COYPUS— THE SOUTH AMERICAN BEAVER. Before considering the relative features of the beaver, which are now in order for a comparative review, it may be better to glance for a moment at the curiously anomalous " Water hog," which from the standpoint of size is first auiong rodents, and though he is pos- sessed of large incisor teeth, he lacks power of jaw, exhibits no engineering skill, and cannot worthily be chosen as typical of the Order. His affinities are evidently more with the pachj'^derms, and his external features denote much appropriateness in the popular issed s Id- 's CASTOROLOGIA. 37 . are nee oin )()S- uo the ind liar name ; the body is massive, the legs moderately long, the toes partly webbed, and 'the skin is scantily covered with rough hair of a brown- ish color. Its economy to man seems to be limited to the value of its meat as a food supply and it is reputed to be very palatable. Having thus reviewed the relative qualities of those members most conspicuous in the Order, we can now safely say that none is so important to man, none embodies the characteristics more com- pletely, and hence, among living representatives none can so well sustain the claim of being the type rodent, as the Canadian Beaver, In size it almost equals the largest, its "chisel-shaped incisors " are perfect models, its engineering skill surpasses the marvelous, its fur is most valuable, and its meat is counted a iuxur>'. It is unique in all the animal kingdom in its possession or che so called "paddle- shaped" tail, covered with scales instead of fur, and as BufFon, the great French naturalist, says : "If we consider the anterior parts, no animal is more perfectly adapted for terrestrial life, and none so well equipped for an aquatic existence, if we look only at the poste- rior portions. " The contrast of the fore and hind feet is almost incredible, the latter being about eight times larger than the former and embodying a development peculiar alone to the beaver. All these particulars will be carefully treated hereafter, meanwhile we will only mention some of the varieties occasionallj- met with, which properly, may now be considered before studying in further detail the normal type. The tendency to discover differences, apparent or real, on which to base new species, is not the highest service of the monographer ; but, rather, the effort to harmonise the varieties of nature. That a clearer conception maybe formed regarding the terms "species" and " varieties," we will refer to the scholarly treatment given this point by Dr. C. Claus. The definition of species, formerly accepted by investigators, was that of Unna^us : "Tot numeramus .species quot ab initio creavit infinitum ens," and was based on the idea of "independently created units." The great lessons, however, of Embryology, and the researches of Charles Darwin have made unten- able any such fixed statement, and now we have a more comprehen- \^ l 1 p 38 CASTOROLOGIA. sive definition, and understand the word species to include " all living forms which have the most essential properties in common, are descended from one another and produce fruitful descendants ;" though all the facts of natural life cannot be arranged agreeably to this conception, and a compromise has often to be effected by the creation of a sub-species as a grade between species and variety, where difficulties arise in attempting to draw a sharp line; for varieties which have arisen from one species ma}^ differ more from one another than do distinct natural species ; thus the absence of a positive test, leaves the matter to the individual judgment of the observer to decide between species, sub-species and varieties. The higher groups of systematic zoology are of course freer from these confusions, thus the ' ' order ' ' comprises all the genera which conform to a simple character, (as for instance, that set forth at the beginning of this chapter), and the "genus" is an assemblage of species having fur- ther points of structure in common, Carl Linnaeus ( 1 707- 1778,) was the greatest systematizer of zoology, and to him also we are indebted for the present form of nomenclature, by which every animal receives two names taken from the Latin language, the generic name, which is placed first, and the specific name, which together indicate that the character of the animal has been sufficiently defined to place it in a scientific arrangement with the whole system of life. With this digression, we have become ready to appreciate the value of the following varieties of the Canadian beaver. They are best recorded in Dr. John Richardson's '' Fauna Boreali Americana" where they are treated in the inverse order of rarity. The first variety, "nigra" — the black beaver, and although these are not accounted rare, they are only found in the proportion of one to ten thousand of the normal color. It should here be remarked that the natural color is very variable and is most correctly described as of a chestnut brown, ranging towards the south to a pale yellowish brown, and in the north approaching a blackish brown. The black beaver, however, has more than a mere relative coloring and is unquestion- ably an evidence of melanism — an excessive development of pigment in the skin and its appendages. Hearne recognised the beautiful gloss of the fur, and the shading must be described as bluish rather CASTOROLOGIA. 39 than brownish. No difference in other respects is discernible and though apparently local and said to be found more plentifully at Churchill, Hudson's Bay, than at any other point, these specimens can scarcely constitute a constant variety. Next in order comes the spotted beaver — varietj'- " varia," which Dr. Richardson considered more rare than the preceding, but this might be perhaps based on his personal ob.serv^ation which could not, necessarily, have been very extensive. He reports that he never met with a specimen, which seems rather remarkable as the white spotted beavers are not unfrequenily met with even now, among Hudson's Bay beavers ; although having no special beauty there does not exist the same demand, which tempts the capture of the black beaver, whose pelt always fetches a high price. The variety " varia " is doubtless a " sport " inclining to albinism, the white spots generally occur on the throat or along the sides, but all other characteristics correspond exactly with the normal type. The white beaver — variety, "alba," is incomparably the rarest, though it is evidently nothing but an albino condition of the type Castor Canadensis. The Indians attach much value to these rare skins, which the lucky hunter converts into a medicine bag, and although this fate befalls albino skins of many other animals, such as the otter, the skunk and the musquash, those of the beaver seem to be held in more than ordinary esteem by the Indians, owing per- haps to their extreme rarity. Samuel Hearne saw but one in the course of twenty 3'ears, though Prince MaximilHan, in 1843, speak- ing of beavers found upon the Yellowstone River says, " Yellowish- white and pure white are not unfrequently caught on the Yellow- stone." About twenty years ago, Mr. Harrison Young, of Montreal, then connected with the Geological Survey of Canada, while travel- ling in the neighbourhood of Little Slave L,ake, secured nine pure white beaver skins in one parcel. The occurrence, though without parallel in Natural History records, suggests the possibility of per- petuating a race of white beavers, for the discovery of so large a number in one locality would .scarcely indicate an ordinary freak of nature, but rather implies hereditary qualities. i 11 f' 40 CASTOROLOGIA. Interesting as these speculations may be, the history of the beaver in its now familiar form is a matter of much greater importance, and with the slight introduction of the subject afforded in this chapter, we will proceed to a study of its social life. THE r.ARGEST EXISTING RODENT-HYDROCIL