The female bears as many as seven, but usually four, five, or six. They have four teeth, two below, and two above, which are wonderfully drawn out; the other two are small, but these are large and sharp. They are used to cut the wood for their food, and the wood with which they build their house; they sharpen these teeth when they are dull, by rubbing and pressing them against [155] each other, making a little noise which I have myself heard. Le Castor a le poil fort doux, les chapeaux qu'on en fait en sont tesmoins, il a des pieds forts courts & fort propres pour nager, car ils ont vne peau continue entre les ongles, à la façon des oyseaux de riuiere, ou des loups marins, sa queuë est toute platte, assez longuette faicte en ouale; i'en mesuray vne d'vn gros Castor, elle auoit vne paulme & huict doigts ou enuiron de longeur, & quasi vne paulme de la main en largeur, elle estoit assez épaisse, elle est couuerte, non de poil, mais d'vne peau noire figurée en écailles: ce ne sont pas pourtant de vrayes écailles: on prend icy le Castor pour vn animal amphiuie, voila pourquoy on en mange en tout temps: ma pensée est que sa gresse fonduë approche plus de l'huille que de la gresse, la chair en est fort bonne, elle m'a semblé vn peu fade au Printemps, & non pas en Hiuer; Au reste si sa peau surpasse la peau du mouton, la chair de mouton surpasse à mon aduis celle de Castor; tant pource qu'elle est de meilleur goust, comme aussi que le Moutõ est plus gros qu'vn Castor. The Beaver has very soft fur, the hats made of it being an evidence of this. It has very short feet which are well adapted to swimming, for the nails are united by skin, in the same way as those of river-birds or seals; its tail is entirely flat, quite long and oval-shaped. I measured one of a large Beaver; it was a palm and eight fingers or thereabout in length, and almost one palm of the hand in width. It was quite thick, and was covered, not with hair, but with a black skin looking like scales; however, these are not real scales. The Beaver here is regarded as an amphibious animal, and therefore it is eaten in all seasons. My idea is that the grease when melted is more like oil than grease; the flesh is very good, but it seems to me a little stale in the Spring, and not so in Winter. But if the pelt of the Beaver excels the pelt of the sheep, the flesh of the sheep is superior, in my opinion, to that of the Beaver,--not only because it tastes better, but also because the Sheep is larger than the Beaver.