not smaller than a common pipe-stem* ; they seem particularly partial to red
willows” ■(cornus alba.) To the eastward of the Rocky Mountains the evergreen
leaves of the gualtheria shallon form, according to Lewis and Clark, a favourite
part of the food of the moose-deer.
The flesh of the moose is more relished by the Indians and residents in the fur
countries than that of any other animal, and principally, I believe, on account of its
soft fat. It bears a greater resemblance in its flavour to beef than to venison.
“ The flesh of the moose,” says Hearne, “ is very good, though the grain is but
coarse, and it is much tougher than any other kind of venison. The nose is most
excellent, as is also the tongue, though by no means so-fat and delicate as that of
the common deer (rein-deer.) The fat of the intestines is hard like suet .; but all
the external fat is soft like that of a breast of mutton, and, when put into a bladder,
is as fine as marrow. In this they differ from all the other .species of deer, of
which the external fat is as hard as that of the kidnies.”
The moose acquires a large size, particularly the males, which, I have been
informed, occasionally attain a weight of eleven or twelve hundred pounds. Moose
dung is in form of oval, brown pellets. Their skins, when properly dressed, make
a soft, thick, pliable leather, excellently adapted for moccasins, or other articles
of winter clothing. The Dog-ribs excel in the apt of dressing the skins, which is
done in the following manner. They are first scraped to an equal thickness
throughout, and the hair taken off by a scraper, -made of the shin-bone of a deer,
split longitudinally ; they are then repeatedly moistened and rubbed, after being
smeared with the brains of the animal, until they acquire a soft, spongy feel;
and lastly, they are suspended over a fire, made of rotten wood, until they are well
impregnated with the smoke; This last-mentioned process imparts a peculiar
odour to the leather, and has the effect of preventing it from becoming so hard,
after being wet, as it would otherwise do.
The d e s c r i p t i o n of the moose, by Major Smith, being the fullest and most
correct I have met with, I have quoted almost the whole of it.
111 This animal is the largest of the genus, being higher at the shoulders than the horse-; its
horns weigh sometimes near fifty poundsf : accordingly, to bear this heavy weight, its neck
is short and strong, taking away much of the elegance of proportion so generally predominant
in the deer; hut when it is asserted that the elk wants beauty or majesty, the opinion can
* The •wooden pipe-stems used in Hudson’s Bay are about the thickness of the little finger.
•f H e a rn e s a y s, t h a t th e h o rn s o f th e m oose som e tim e s e x c e ed 601bs., a n d h a v e a h a r d e r t e x tu r e th a n a n y o th e r d e e r-
h o r n s to b e fo u n d i n .th e fu r - c o u n tr ie s .
be entertained by those who have seen the female only, the young, or the mere stuffed
specimen: for us who have had the opportunity of viewing the animal in all the glory of
his full grown horns, amid the scenery of his own wilderness, no animal could appear more
majestic or more imposing. It is, however, the aggregate of his appearance which produces
this effect; for when the proportions of its structure are considered in detail, they certainly
will seem destitute of that harmony of parts which in the imagination produces the feeling
of beauty. The head, measuring above two feet in length, is narrow and clumsily shaped,
by the swelling upon the upper part of the nose and nostrils ; the eye is proportionably small
and sunk; the ears long, hairy, and asinine ; the neck and withers are surmounted by a
heavy mane, and the throat furnished with long coarse hair, and in younger specimens
encumbered with a pendulous gland: these give altogether an uncouth character to this
part of the animal. Its body, however, is round, compact, and short; the tail not more
than four inches long, and the legs, though very long, are remarkably clean and firm; this
length of limbs, and the overhanging lips, have caused the ancients to fancy that it grazed
walking backwards. The hair of the animal is coarse and angular, breaking if bent.
“ Its movements are rather heavy, and the shoulders being higher than the croup, it does
not gallop, but shuffles or ambles along, its joints cracking at every step, with a sound heard
to some distance. Increasing its speed, the hind-feet straddle to avoid treading on its foreheels,
tossing the head and shoulders like a horse about to break from a trot to a gallop.. It
does not leap, but steps without effort over a fallen tree, a gate, or a split fence. During its
progress it holds the nose up, so as to lay the horns horizontally back. This attitude prevents
it seeing the ground distinctly; and as the weight is carried very high upon its elevated legs, it
is said sometimes to trip by treading on its fore-heels, or otherwise, and occasionally to give
itself a heavy fall. It is probably owing to this occurrence that the elk was believed by the
ancients to have frequent attacks of epilepsy, and to be obliged to smell its hoof before it
could recover; hence the Teutonic name of Elend (miserable), and the reputation, especially
of the fore-hoofs, as a specific against the disease.”