chriftian god fathers and god-mothers, who, notwithstanding their vows are made in the most folemn manner, and in the prefence of both God and man, fcarcely ever afterward remember what they have promifed, that there is not an inftance of a northern Indian having once neglected the duty which he is fupposed to have taken upon himself to perform. The fouthern Indians, with all their bad qualities, are remarkably humane and charitable to the widows and children of departed friends; and as their fituation and manner of life enable them to do more acts of charity with lefs trou THE ble than falls to the fot of a northern Indian, few widows or orphans are ever unprovided for among them. Though the northern Indian men make no fcruple of having two or three fifters for wives at one time, yet they are very particular in obferving a proper distance in the confanguinity of thofe they admit to the above-mentioned intercourfe with their wives. The fouthern Indians are lefs fcrupulous on thofe occafions; among them it is not at all uncommon for one brother to make free with another brother's wife or daughter; but this is held in abhorrence by the northern Indians. A NEW DESCRIPTION OF THE BEAVER, FROM THE SAME, THE ftuation of the beaver-houfes the water is liable to be drained off is various. Where the beavers when the back fupplies are dried up are numerous they are found to in- by the froft, are wonderfully taught habit lakes, ponds, and rivers, as well by inftinct to provide against that as those narrow creeks which connect evil, by making a dam quite across the numerous lakes with which the the river, at a convenient distance Northern Ocean abounds; but the two from their houfes. This I look upon latter are generally chofen by them as the most curious piece of workmanwhen the depth of water and other fhip that is performed by the beaver; circumftances are fuitable, as they not fo much for the neatness of have then the advantage of a current the work, as for its ftrength and real to convey wood and other neceffaries fervice; and at the fame time it difto their habitations, and because, in covers fuch a degree of fagacity and general, they are more difficult to be forefight in the animal, of approach, taken than thofe that are built in ing evils, as is little inferior to that standing water. of the human fpecies, and is certainly peculiar to thofe animals. There is no one particular part of a lake, pond, river, or creek, of which the beavers make choice for building their houfes on, in preference to another; for they fometimes build on points, fometimes in the hollow of a bay, and often on fall iflands; they always choofe, however, thofe parts that have fuch a depth of water as will refift the froft in winter, and prevent it from freezirg to the bottom. The beaver that build their houfes in fmall rivers or creeks, in which The beaver-dams differ in fhape according to the nature of the place in which they are built. If the water in the river or creek have but little motion, the dam is almost ftraight; but when the current is more rapid, it is always made with a confiderable curve, convex toward the stream. The materials made ufe of in thofe dams are driftwood, green willows, birch, and poplars, if they can be got; alfo mud and ftones, intermixed in fuch a manner as muit evidently evidently contribute to the strength of the dam; but in thefe dams there is no other order or method obferv. ed, except that of the work being carried on with a regular fweep, and all the parts being made of equal ftrength. In places which have been long frequented by beaver undisturbed, their dams, by frequent repairing, become a folid bank, capable of refitting a great force both of water and ice; and as the willow, poplar, and birch, generally take root and fhoot up, they by degrees form a regular-planted hedge, which I have feen in fome places fo tall, that birds have built their nefts among the branches. Though the beaver which build their houfes in lakes, and other ftanding waters, may enjoy a fufficient quantity of their favourite element without the affiftance of a dam, the trouble of getting wood and other neceffaries to their habitations without the help of a current, muft in fome measure counterbalance the other advantages which are reaped from fuch a fituation; for it must be obferved, that the beaver which build in rivers and creeks, always cut their wood above their houses, fo that the current, with little trouble, conveys it to the place required. The beaver-houfes are built of the fame materials as their dams, and are always proportioned in fize to the number of inhabitants, which feldom exceed four old, and 6 or 8 young ones; though, by chance, I have seen above double that number. Thefe houses, though not altogether unworthy of admiration, fall very fhort of the general defcription given of them; for instead of order or regulation being obferved in rearing them, they are of a much ruder ftructure than their dams. Thofe who have undertaken to defcribe the infide of beaver-houfes, as having several apartments appro priated to various ufes; fuch as eating, fleeping, ftore-houses for provifions, and one for their natural occafions, &c. muft have been very little acquainted with the fubject: or, which is ftill worfe, guilty of attempting to impofe on the credulous, by reprefenting the greatest falfehoods as real facts. Many years conftant refidence among the Indians, during which I had an opportu nity of feeing feveral hundreds of thofe houfes, has enabled me to affirm that every thing of the kind is entirely void of truth; for, notwithstanding the fagacity of thofe animals, it has never been obferved that they aim at any other conveniencies in their houses, than to have a dry place to lie on; and there they usually, eat their victuals, which they occafionally take out of the water. It frequently happens, that fome of the large houfes are found to have one or more partitions, if they deferve that appellation; but that is no more than a part of the main building, left by the fagacity of the beaver to fupport the roof. On fuch occafions it is common for those different apartments, as fome are pleafed to call them, to have no communication with each other but by water. To deny that the beaver is poffeffed of a very confiderable degree of fagacity, would be as abfurd in me, as it is in thofe authors who think they cannot allow them too much. I fhall willingly grant them their full fhare; but it is impoffible for any one to conceive how, or by what means, a beaver, whofe full height when flanding erect does not exceed two feet and a half, or three feet at moft, and whole fore-paws are not much larger than a half-crown piece, can "drive ftakes as thick as a man's leg into the ground three or four feet deep." Their "wattling thofe ftakes with twigs," is equally abfurd; and their "plaiftering the infide of their houfes with a compo 3 Ma fition fition of mud and ftraw, and fwimming with mud and ftones on their tails," are still more incredible. The form and fize of the animal, notwithftanding all its fagacity, will not admit of its performing fuch feats; and it would be as impoffible for a beaver to use its tail as a trowel, except on the fúrface of the ground on which it walks, as it would have been for Sir James Thornhill to have painted the dome of St Paul's cathe dral without the affiftance of fcaffolding. The joints of their tail will not admit of their turning it over their backs on any occafion whatever, as it has a natural inclination to bend downwards; and it is not without fome confiderable exertion that they can keep it from trailing on the ground. This being the cafe, they cannot fit erect like a squirrel, which is their common pofture, particularly when eating, or when they are cleaning themfelves, as a cat or fquirrel does, without having their tails bent forward between their legs, and which may not improperly be called their trencher. So far are the beaver from driv ing takes into the ground when building their houfes, that they lay most of the wood crofswife, and nearly horizontal, and without any other order than that of leaving a hollow or cavity in the middle: when any unneceffary branches project inward, they cut them off with their teeth, and throw them in among the rest, to prevent the mud from falling through the roof. It is a mistaken notion, that the wood-work is first completed and then plaiftered; for the whole of their houfes, as well as their dams, are from the foundation one mafs of wood and mud, mixed with ftones, if they can be procured. The mud is always taken from the edge of the bank, or the bottom of the creek or pond, near the door of the houfe; and though their fore paws are fo fmall, yet it is held clofe up between them, under their throat, that they carry both mud and stones, while they always drag the wood with their teeth. All their work is executed in the night and they are fo expeditious in completing it, that in the courfe of one night I have known them to have collected as much mud at their houses as to have amounted to fome thousands of their little handfuls: and when any mixture of grafs or ftraw has appeared in it, it has been moft affuredly mere chance, owing to the nature of the ground from which they had taken it. As to their defignedly making a compofition for that purpose, it is entirely void of truth. It is a great piece of policy in thofe animals, to cover, or plaifter, as it is ufually called, the outfide of their houfes every fall with fresh mud, and as late as poffible in the autumn, even when the frost becomes pretty fevére: as by this means it foon freezes as hard as a stone, and prevents their common enemy, the quiquehatch, from difturbing them during the winter. And as they are frequently feen to walk over their work, and fometimes to give a flap with their tail, particularly when plunging into the water, this has, without doubt, given rife to the vulgar opinion, that they use their tails as a trowel, with which they plaifter their houfes; whereas that flapping of the tail is no more than a custom, which they always preferve, even when they become tame and domeftic, and more fo when they are startled. Their food chiefly confifts of a large root, fomething refembling a cabbage-ftalk, which grows at the bottom of the lakes and rivers.They eat alfo the bark of trees, particularly that of the poplar, birch, and willow; but the ice preventing them from getting to the land in winter, they have not any barks to feed upon during that feason, except that of of fuch sticks as they cut down in fummer, and throw into the water oppofite the doors of their houfes; and as they generally eat a great deal, the roots above mentioned conftitute a chief part of their food during the winter. In fummer they vary their diet, by eating various kinds of herbage, and fuch berries as grow near their haunts during that feafon. When the ice breaks up in the fpring, the beaver always leave their houses, and rove about the whole fum mer, probably in fearch of a more commodious fituation; but in cafe of not fucceeding in their endeavours, they return again to their old habitations a little before the fall of the leaf, and lay in their winter ftock of woods. They feldom begin to repair the houfes till the froft commences, and never furnish the outer-coat till the cold is pretty fevere, as hath been already mentioned. When they shift their habitations, or when the increase of their number renders it neceffary to make fome addition to their houses, or to erect new ones, they begin felling the wood for thefe purposes early in the fummer, but feldom begin to build till the middle or latter end of Auguft, and never complete their houfes till the cold weather be fet in. BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS PUBLISHED IN MAY 1796. Theology. Morals. ISCOURSES on the Providence and come Cappe. 8vo. 4s. boards. Johnfon. 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