Wapiti or Elk 41 



such like sorts of Beasts.'* He saw, then, two kinds of Deer. 

 We know that both Whitetail and Wapiti abounded in the 

 country where he wintered. The Wapiti has always been the 

 "Stag" in Canada, as well as the "Stag" 0/ Canada. So this 

 we believe to be the first record of the Wapiti being seen by 

 white men. 



There is just a possibility that Cartier was antedated 

 by Nina de Guzman, who, according to Herrara," in 

 1532 explored the west coast of Mexico, near north 

 latitude 28 degrees, and reported that "Many Cattle and 

 many Deer of very large size were found on the banks of the 

 Yaquimi." 



In 1605 Captain George Waymouth, in his "Voyage to 

 Virginia," found, according to Rosier,'- "Deere, red and fal- 

 low, Befares, etc. * * * Some like our other Beasts, the Sav- 

 ages signe unto us with horns and broad ears, which we take 

 to be Olkes or Loshes." 



This is the earliest-known printed use of the word "Olkes" 

 or "Elk" with reference to the American animal. It appears 

 in the latter form in 1650, when Virginia is credited not only 

 with abundance of Deer, but also with "Elks bigger than 

 oxen. '^ 



Champlain's map (1632)'* marks the region of Kingston, 

 Ontario, as "Lieu ou il y a force cerfs," and with a portrait 

 of a stag, certainly not that of either a Virginian Deer, a Moose, 

 or a Caribou. 



In 1653-4'^ Father Lemoine, voyaging on the St. Law- 

 rence a few leagues above Montreal, found great droves 

 of creatures, which from his description must have been 

 Wapiti. 



After this date the number of travellers increased in 

 America, and their accounts frequently included descrip- 



"Herrara, Hist. Ind. Oc, 1728, Tom. Ill, p. 16 (cited in Allen's American Bison, 

 p. 518). 



"Purchas, Vol. IV, p. 1667. 



"Force, Coll. Hist. Trav., Vol. Ill, No. 11, p. 11. 



"Champlain's Voyages, 1632. 



"Relation de la Nouv. France, 1653-4, p. 85. 



