306 Dr Hibbert (m the History of the Cervus Euryceros, 



are Elks'* horns." This same animal was probably nothing 

 more than the common fallow-deer, the horns of which, in the 

 prior Latin edition of the Cosmography, are said to have been 

 exported from England to Higher Germany. 



After the fallow-deer has been thus described, Munster turns 

 his next attention to the cervus, whose horns precisely resem- 

 ble those of the fossil Elk of Ireland. The account has already 

 been given in the original Latin, from which the German ver- 

 sion (of which the following is a translation,) little differs, 

 " For this land, " he observes, •■' possesses animals called Elks, 

 (Elent,) and these are as large as an ass, or a middling-sized 

 horse. Their hoofs are good for the falling sickness, snd the 

 skin is so hard that one cannot cut or stab through it. This 

 animal is also good game for eating. Its colour is brown, in- 

 clining to black, and the lower parts of its legs are whitish. 

 Its form and shape I have got represented, and have drawn 

 it here.'* 



In this quotation, the only difference in th6 two editions is, 

 that in the earlier, the animal is described of a reddish, and 

 in the latter of a brownish colour ; and that in the Latin copy, 

 the author states that he had the animal drawn to the Itfe ; 

 ad vivum. 



While Munster was obtaining information about this Cervus, 

 he found, that less was known of him than of any other of 

 the genus. He therefore wrote for additional information to a 

 friend in Livonia, conceiving that in that country the animal 

 was more abundant. But his queries, so far from being re- 

 solved, were answered by a description of a perfectly different 

 animal, and in such ambiguous language, that our cosmogra- 

 pher found it difficult to say to what race the description 

 was relative. " John Hasentoder," he explains, " who lived 

 many years inLyffland,has written to me concerning this animal 

 in the following manner : — The elks are greater than stags ; 

 they are grey, have long rough hair, a misshapen form, arelower 

 behind than before by a good handsbreadth, have long weak 

 legs, divided hoofs, and spare bodies. They are naturally shy, 

 and a child may drive them where it pleases with a switch. They 

 have long ears like an ass, and will not carry any thing on 

 their backs, and when one lays any thing light upon them, they 



