La Hontan in this passage confounds the Canada stag and moose deer together.
He mentions the animal being able to run, in the summer season; for three days and
nights in succession, and the excellent flavour of its flesh,—facts which apply to the
moose deer, but not to the Canada st agon the other hand, the weight of the horns,
which, he says, sometimes amounts to four hundred weight, is true only of the stag..
In like manner, the accounts of the other early writers on Canada are liable to suspicion.
In the more northern parts, the moose deer is quite a solitary animal, more
than one being very seldom seen at a time, unless during the rutting season, or
when a female is accompanied by her fawns. It has the sense of hearing in very
great perfection, and is the most shy and wary of all the deer species , and on. this
account the art of moose-hunting is looked upon as the greatest of an Indian’s
acquirements, particularly by the Crees, who take to themselves the credit of
being able to instruct the hunters of every other tribe. The skill of a moose-
hunter is most tried in the early part of the winter; for during the summer the
moose, as well as other animals, are so much tormented by musquitoes, that they
become regardless of the approach of man. In the winter the hunter tracks the
moose by its foot-marks in the snow, and it is necessary that he should keep coni-
stantly to leeward of the chase, and make his advances with the utmost caution, for
the rustling of a withered leaf, or the cracking of a rotten twig, is sufficient to alarm
the watchful beast. The difficulty of approach is increased by a habit which the
moose deer has of making daily a sharp turn in its route, and choosing a place
of repose so near some part of its path, that it can hear the least noise made by
one that attempts to track.it. To avoid this, the judicious hunter, instead of
walking in the animal’s footsteps, forms his judgment, from the appearance of the’
country, of the direction it is likely to have taken, and makes a circuit to leeward,
until he again finds the track. This manoeuvre is repeated, until he discovers, by
the softness of the snow in the foot-marks and other signs, that he is very near the
chase. He then disencumbers himself of every thing that might embarrass his,
motions, and makes his approach in the most cautious manner. If he gets close;
to the animal’s lair, without being seen, it is usual for him to break a small twig,,
which, alarming the moose,, it instantly starts u p ; but, not fully aware of the
danger, squats on its hams, and voids its urine, preparatory to/ setting off. In
this posture it presents the fairest mark, and the hunter’s shot seldom fails to take
effect in a mortal part. In the rutting season the bucks lay aside their timidity^
and attack every animal that comes in their way, and even conquer their fear of man
himself, The hunters then bring them within gun-shot, by scraping on the bladebone
of a deer, andby whistling, which, deceiving the male, he blindly hastens to the
spot, to assail his supposed rival. If the hunter fails in giving it a mortal wound as
it approaches, be shelters himself from its fury behind a tree ; and I have heard of
several instances in which the enraged animal has completely stripped the bark
from the trunk of a large “tree, by striking with its fore-feet. In the spring time,
when the snow 'is very deep, the hunters frequently run down the moose on snow-
shoes. An instance is recorded in the narrative of 'Captain Franklin s second
journey, where three hunters pursued a moose-deer for four successive days, until
the footsteps of the chaee were marked with blood, although they had not yet got
a view of it. At this period of the pursuit the principal hunter had the misfortune
to sprain his ankle, and the two others were tired o u t b u t one of them,
having rested for twelve hours, set out again, and succeeded in killing the
animal, after a further pursuit of two days’ continuance. Notwithstanding the
lengthened chase which the moose can sustain, when pursued on the snow,
Hearne remarks that it is both fender-footed and short-winded; and that,
were it found in a country free from underwood, and dry under foot, it would
become an easy prey to horsemen and dogs. The same author informs us, that
in the summer moose-deer are often killed in the water by the Indians, who have
the fortune to surprise them while they are crossing rivers or lakes, and that at
such times they are the most inoffensive of animals, never making any resistance.
’The young ones, in particular,” says he, “ are so simple, that I remember to
have seen an Indian paddle his canoe up to one of them, and take it by the poll,
without experiencing the least opposition ; the poor, harmless animal seeming, at
the same time, as contented alongside the canoe, as if swimming by the side of its
dam, and looking up in our faces with the same fearless innocence that a house-
lamb would, making use of its fore-foot almost every instant, to clear its eyes of
mosquitoes, which at that time were remarkably numerous. The moose is the
easiest to tame and domesticate of any of the deer kind.”
With respect to the food of the moose, the same traveller says, “ Their legs are
so long, and their necks so short, that they cannot graze on the level ground like
other animals, but are obliged to browze on the tops of large plants and the
leaves of trees in the summer, and in winter they always feed on the tops of
willows and the small branches of the birch tree, on which account they are never
found during that season but in such places as can afford them a plentiful supply
of their favourite food .; and although they have no fore-teeth in the upper jaw, yet
I have often seen willows and small birch trees cropped by them in the same
manner as if they had been cut by a gardener s shears, though some of them were
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