doubt, learned that man is their worst enemy, though the wolverine,
wolf, otter, lynx, and fisher are ever ready to pounce upon them
whenever a chance offers.


USEFULNESS OP BEAVER

But I had almost forgotten that I owed the reader an explanation when I
said that the beaver was a very useful creature. I was not thinking of
the value of his fur, because that is as nothing compared to the great
service he has been rendering mankind, not only to-day, but for endless
generations. How? By the great work he has been doing during the past
hundreds and thousands of years. How? By going into rocky, useless
valleys and building the dams that checked the rushing rivers that were
constantly robbing much rich soil from the surrounding country and
carrying it down and out to sea. And his dams, moreover, not only held
up those treacherous highwaymen, but took the loot from them and let it
settle in the valleys, where, as years rolled on, it grew and grew into
endless great expansions of level meadow lands that now afford much of
the most fertile farming soil to be found in North America; and thus
the great industry of those silent workers, who lived ages and ages
ago, is even to-day benefiting mankind. And thus, too, that great work
is being steadily carried on by the living beavers of to-day. Could
any country in the world have chosen a more inspiring creature than
Canada has chosen for her national symbol?

When, on his fall and spring expeditions, Oo-koo-hoo was hunting
beavers with the waters free of ice, he placed steel traps in their
runways, either just below the surface of the water, or on the bank;
and the only bait he used in both cases was the rubbing of castorum on