Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/66

42 HISTORY or One of these Indian villages was only a short distance above Margaretville, on the opposite side of the stream, where may be seen a couple of ancient looking apple-trees, which are said to have been nurtured by the original proprietors themselves. The oldest living settlers bear witness to the fact, by stating that they were old trees when they were boys ; they were per- haps at that early date the only bearing apple trees in the county, and those persons are still living who can bear witness to the miraculous disappearance of the fruit. . An intelligent and reliable informant, speaking of these apple trees, related the following anecdote of their early his- tory : Some fifty years ago, the only grist-mill for a large cir- what seems peculiar, although the body of the animal is so well covered with fur and hair, the tail is without either, except at its insertion, and is covered with a species of scales. The fore part of the beaver has the consistency of land animals, while the hind legs and tail have not only the smell, but the savor, and nearly all the qualities of the fish. The food of the beaver is principally vegetable. The bait used by hunters to entice them to a trap is castoreum^ or bark stone, which substance is obtained from the glandulous pouches of the male ani- mals. The beavers prefer usually to locate their dams in a moderate current, which they substitute as a motive power, to float the trees which they fell into the stream above, to the precise point where they are required. The number of trees which they thus cut is truly surprising, and those unacquainted with the animal, would suppose them cut with an axe. The dams which they build in a running stream are curved, with the convexity opposed to the current; the interstices are filled with mud and stones. Their work is all prepared in the night ; as soon as any of the material is placed where it is intended to remain, the ani- mal turns round and gives it a smart blow with its tail. The same sort of a blow is struck by them on the surface of the water, when they are in the act of diving. The hut of the beaver is rudely con- structed of bushes and mud, which is applied after the water becomes sufficiently cold to freeze it.