EPISODES 395 



the Moose had rested for the night. He had not left this 

 place more than an hour, when we came to it. So we 

 pushed on faster than before, trusting that ere long we 

 should overtake him. We had proceeded about a mile 

 and a half farther, when he took a sudden turn, which 

 threw us off his track, and when we again found it, we 

 saw that an Indian had taken it up, and gone in pursuit 

 of the harassed animal. In a short time we heard the 

 report of a gun, and immediately running up, we saw the 

 Moose, standing in a thicket, wounded, when we brought 

 him down. The animal finding himself too closely pur- 

 sued, had turned upon the Indian, who fired, and instantly 

 ran into the bushes to conceal himself. It was three 

 years old, and consequently not nearly grown, although 

 already about six feet and a half in height. 



It is difficult to conceive how an animal could have 

 gone at such a rate when the snow was so deep, with a 

 thick crust at top. In one place, he had followed the 

 course of a brook, over which the snow had sunk consid- 

 erably on account of the higher temperature of the water, 

 and we had an opportunity of seeing evidence of the great 

 power which the species possess in leaping over objects 

 that obstruct his way. There were places in which the 

 snow had drifted to so great a height that you would have 

 imagined it impossible for any animal to leap over it, and 

 yet we found that he had done so at a single bound, with- 

 out leaving the least trace. As I did not measure these 

 snow-heaps, I cannot positively say how high they were, 

 but I am well persuaded that some of them were ten feet. 



We proceeded to skin and dress the Moose, and buried 

 the flesh under the snow, where it will keep for weeks. 

 On opening the animal we were surprised to see the great 

 size of the heart and lungs, compared with the contents 

 of the abdomen. The heart was certainly larger than that 

 of any animal which I had seen. The head bears a great 

 resemblance to that of a horse, but the "mufifle" is more 



