be applied, and the entire crew are put on the tow-rope to overcome the current. If in descending a point of rock or a loose boulder be touched, the shock is generally fatal to the boat. The hull is crushed in, despite the strongest framing. These rapids generally bear the name of some individual or other who has lost his life there, or undergone shipwreck.
In all this stretch of 632 miles, and as far up as the sources of the Missouri, the whole length of the bank displays the ravages of numerous beavers. These industrious animals, of whom so many wonderful things are related, seem to be more plentiful there now than ever; for the number of hunters has fallen off with the decadence of beaver hats, which have given way before head-coverings of silk. The presence of beavers is detected by the destruction which they make in the forests and among the willows along the bank. It is surprising to see the number of trees, large and small, which they have cut down. With their teeth these skillful animals cut branches with tender bark into four-foot lengths; these furnish their favorite food. and they transport them into their lairs. On the Missouri, they dig holes in the cut or vertical banks of the river, making them large enough to lodge a number of them. The interior resembles a cave, and can contain a whole family, that is, the old beaver and his old companion, and usually four or five little ones. I have been assured that sometimes they contrive different apartments, larger or smaller. All the inside is lined with willow branches, picked clean and interwoven. The entrance to the cavity is obstructed carefully with a mass of twigs, mingled and heavily plastered with clay. They make a communication or passage-way which ends beneath the outer water, and also leave an opening overhead to admit air.
I have spoken of their ways and works in other letters. I will therefore not touch upon them here, but I should like to tell a story which I had from one of my traveling companions, a trustworthy man, an intrepid hunter, and who