The Church Dedicated To St. Ludoc, {135} The Mill,
Bridge, Salmon Leap, An Orchard With A Delightful Garden, All Stand
Together On A Small Plot Of Ground.
The Teivi has another singular
particularity, being the only river in Wales, or even in England,
which has beavers; {136} in Scotland they are said to be found in
one river, but are very scarce.
I think it not a useless labour, to
insert a few remarks respecting the nature of these animals - the
manner in which they bring their materials from the woods to the
water, and with what skill they connect them in the construction of
their dwellings in the midst of rivers; their means of defence on
the eastern and western sides against hunters; and also concerning
their fish-like tails.
The beavers, in order to construct their castles in the middle of
rivers, make use of the animals of their own species instead of
carts, who, by a wonderful mode of carnage, convey the timber from
the woods to the rivers. Some of them, obeying the dictates of
nature, receive on their bellies the logs of wood cut off by their
associates, which they hold tight with their feet, and thus with
transverse pieces placed in their mouths, are drawn along backwards,
with their cargo, by other beavers, who fasten themselves with their
teeth to the raft. The moles use a similar artifice in clearing out
the dirt from the cavities they form by scraping. In some deep and
still corner of the river, the beavers use such skill in the
construction of their habitations, that not a drop of water can
penetrate, or the force of storms shake them; nor do they fear any
violence but that of mankind, nor even that, unless well armed.
They entwine the branches of willows with other wood, and different
kinds of leaves, to the usual height of the water, and having made
within-side a communication from floor to floor, they elevate a kind
of stage, or scaffold, from which they may observe and watch the
rising of the waters. In the course of time, their habitations bear
the appearance of a grove of willow trees, rude and natural without,
but artfully constructed within. This animal can remain in or under
water at its pleasure, like the frog or seal, who shew, by the
smoothness or roughness of their skins, the flux and reflux of the
sea. These three animals, therefore, live indifferently under the
water, or in the air, and have short legs, broad bodies, stubbed
tails, and resemble the mole in their corporal shape. It is worthy
of remark, that the beaver has but four teeth, two above, and two
below, which being broad and sharp, cut like a carpenter's axe, and
as such he uses them. They make excavations and dry hiding places
in the banks near their dwellings, and when they hear the stroke of
the hunter, who with sharp poles endeavours to penetrate them, they
fly as soon as possible to the defence of their castle, having first
blown out the water from the entrance of the hole, and rendered it
foul and muddy by scraping the earth, in order thus artfully to
elude the stratagems of the well-armed hunter, who is watching them
from the opposite banks of the river.
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