Lewis: January 7, 1806
On this first rainless day since arriving at their winter quarters, Drewyer's traps yielded a large fat beaver and an otter, providing both a hearty meal and valuable castor glands for making trap bait. Lewis devoted most of the entry to detailing his recipe for beaver bait—mixing castor with nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and spirits—along with substitutions when ingredients are scarce. He also described beaver anatomy, noting the male's bark stones and oil stones, and recorded breeding habits. The party took advantage of the dry weather to dry their lodge and store it under shelter.
Monday January 7th 1806. Last evening Drewyer visited his traps and caught
a beaver and an otter; the beaver was large and fat we have therefore
fared sumptuously today; this we consider a great prize for another
reason, it being a full grown beaver was well supplyed with the materials
for making bate with which to catch others. this bate when properly
prepared will intice the beaver to visit it as far as he can smell it, and
this I think may be safely stated at a mile, their sense of smelling being
very accute. To prepare beaver bate, the castor or bark stone is taken as
the base, this is gently pressed out of the bladderlike bag which contains
it, into a phiol of 4 ounces with a wide mouth; if you have them you will
put from four to six stone in a phiol of that capacity, to this you will
add half a nutmeg, a douzen or 15 grains of cloves and thirty grains of
cinimon finely pulverized, stir them well together and then add as much
ardent sperits to the composition as will reduce it the consistency
mustard prepared for the table; when thus prepared it resembles mustard
precisely to all appearance. when you cannot procure a phiol a bottle made
of horn or a tight earthen vessel will answer, in all cases it must be
excluded from the air or it will soon loose it’s virtue; it is fit for uce
immediately it is prepared but becomes much stronger and better in about
four or five days and will keep for months provided it be perfectly
secluded from the air. when cloves are not to be had use double the
quantity of Allspice, and when no spice can be obtained use the bark of
the root of sausafras; when sperits cannot be had use oil stone of the
beaver adding mearly a sufficient quantity to moisten the other materials,
or reduce it to a stif past. it appears to me that the principal uce of
the spices is only to give a variety to the scent of the bark stone and if
so the mace vineller and other sweetsmelling spices might be employed with
equal advantage. The male beaver has six stones, two which contain a
substance much like finely pulvarized bark of a pale yellow colour and not
unlike tanner’s ooz in smell, these are called the bark stones or castors;
two others, which like the bark stone resemble small bladders, contain a
pure oil of a strong rank disagreeable smell, and not unlike train oil,
these are called the oil stones; and 2 others of generation. the
Barkstones are about two inches in length, the others somewhat smaller all
are of a long oval form; and lye in a bunch together between the skin and
the root of the tail, beneath or behind the fundament with which they are
closely connected and seem to communicate. the pride of the female lyes on
the inner side much like those of the hog. they have no further parts of
generation that I can perceive and therefore beleive that like the birds
they copulate with the extremity of the gut. The female have from two to
four young ones at a birth and bring fourth once a year only, which
usually happens about the latter end of may and begining of June. at this
stage she is said to drive the male from the lodge, who would otherwise
destroy the young.dryed our lodge and had it put away under
shelter; this is the first day during which we have had no rain since we
arrived at this place. nothing extraordinary happened today.
Read this entry in modern English AI-translated
Monday, January 7th, 1806. Last evening Drewyer visited his traps and caught a beaver and an otter; the beaver was large and fat, so we have fared sumptuously today. We consider this a great prize for another reason: being a full-grown beaver, it was well supplied with the materials for making bait with which to catch others. This bait, when properly prepared, will entice the beaver to visit it as far as he can smell it, and this I think may safely be stated at a mile, their sense of smell being very acute.
To prepare beaver bait, the castor or bark stone is taken as the base. This is gently pressed out of the bladder-like bag which contains it, into a phial of 4 ounces with a wide mouth. If you have them, you will put from four to six stones into a phial of that capacity. To this you will add half a nutmeg, a dozen or 15 grains of cloves, and thirty grains of cinnamon finely pulverized; stir them well together, and then add as much ardent spirits to the composition as will reduce it to the consistency of mustard prepared for the table. When thus prepared, it resembles mustard precisely in all appearance. When you cannot procure a phial, a bottle made of horn or a tight earthen vessel will answer; in all cases it must be excluded from the air, or it will soon lose its virtue. It is fit for use immediately after it is prepared, but becomes much stronger and better in about four or five days, and will keep for months provided it be perfectly secluded from the air. When cloves are not to be had, use double the quantity of allspice; and when no spice can be obtained, use the bark of the root of sassafras. When spirits cannot be had, use oil stone of the beaver, adding merely a sufficient quantity to moisten the other materials, or reduce it to a stiff paste. It appears to me that the principal use of the spices is only to give variety to the scent of the bark stone, and if so, the mace, vanilla, and other sweet-smelling spices might be employed with equal advantage.
The male beaver has six stones: two which contain a substance much like finely pulverized bark, of a pale yellow color and not unlike tanner's ooze in smell — these are called the bark stones or castors; two others, which, like the bark stones, resemble small bladders, contain a pure oil of a strong, rank, disagreeable smell, not unlike train oil — these are called the oil stones; and 2 others of generation. The bark stones are about two inches in length, the others somewhat smaller; all are of a long oval form, and lie in a bunch together between the skin and the root of the tail, beneath or behind the fundament, with which they are closely connected and seem to communicate. The pride of the female lies on the inner side, much like those of the hog. They have no further parts of generation that I can perceive, and therefore I believe that, like the birds, they copulate with the extremity of the gut. The female has from two to four young ones at a birth, and brings forth only once a year, which usually happens about the latter end of May and beginning of June. At this stage she is said to drive the male from the lodge, who would otherwise destroy the young.
We dried our lodge and had it put away under shelter. This is the first day during which we have had no rain since we arrived at this place. Nothing extraordinary happened today.
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