It is a much smaller animal, inhabits the banks of rivers, and swims well; its prey is fish.
The otter, (_neekeek_,) is larger than the English species, and produces a much more valuable fur.
The musk rat (_watsuss_, or _musquash_,) is very abundant in all the small grassy lakes.

They build small conical houses with a mixture of hay and earth; those which build early raising their houses on the mud of the marshes, and those which build later in the season founding their habitations upon the surface of the ice itself.

The house covers a hole in the ice, which permits them to go into the water in search of the roots on which they feed.

In severe winters when the small lakes are frozen to the bottom, and these animals cannot procure their usual food, they prey upon each other.

In this way great numbers are destroyed.
The beaver (_ammisk_) furnish the staple fur of the country.