CARIACUS VIRGINIANUS. I 19 



Bits of newspapers, old rags, and pieces of boots and shoes are seized 

 and disposed of with as much apparent eagerness as bread and but- 

 ter or lily-pads; and I once saw a fawn eat a box of chewing tobacco 

 given it by an unprincipled visitor. It died next day. 



The flesh of the Deer is juicy, tender, and well flavored, and is the 

 most easily digested of meats. Its good qualities are too well known 

 to require further comment. 



The hide is put to a variety of uses, the most important, with us, 

 being the manufacture of gloves and moccasins. 



Our Deer are much larger than those of the South and Southwest, 

 adult well -conditioned bucks averaging from 200 to 226 Ibs. Avoir- 

 dupois in weight, and exceptionally large ones being much heavier. 

 Hence the Adirondack Deer is more than double the size and weight 

 of the same species in Florida. 



I have taken great pains to ascertain, approximately, the number 

 ot Deer annually slain in this Wilderness, but with indifferent suc- 

 cess. It is a low estimate to state that from five to eight hundred 

 have been killed here yearly for the past ten years. How much 

 longer their numbers can withstand this enormous drain is an open 

 question. 



On the 30! of July, 1609, Samuel de Champlain ascended the River 

 Richelieu and entered the lake that now bears his name. In his 

 narrative of this memorable journey he speaks thus of the animals 

 found upon the island at the foot of the lake : " Here are a number 

 of beautiful, but low islands filled with very fine woods and prairies, 

 a quantity of game and wild animals, such as stags, deer, fawns, roe- 

 bucks, bears, and other sorts of animals that come from the mainland 

 to the said islands. \Ye caught a quantity of them. There is also 

 quite a number of Beavers, as well in the river as in several other 

 streams which fall into it. These parts, though agreeable, are not 

 inhabited by any Indians, in consequence of their wars." 



* Documentary History of New York, vol. Ill, p. 5. 



