54 Account of the 



concerning the Elk. These notices, as he acknowledged 

 to me, first led him to the correct knowledge of the fact, 

 that North- America possesses a very large species of 

 deer, entirely distinct from the moose, caribou, and 

 Virginian deer. In one of his letters to me, he calls the 

 Elk, of which I am speaking, the " Greater Stag," to 

 distinguish it from the Cervus Elaphus, which he calls, 

 simply, Stag. 



Note 2. Page 38. Carver says, the moose " is 

 nearly about the size of the Elk," &c. Travels, &c. 

 p. 418. This is, certainly, not the common case. 

 Male Elks, however, are sometimes seen from sixteen 

 to twenty hands in height, and, it js said, have been 

 known to weigh twelve hundred weight. If this latter 

 circumstance be true, it must be admitted, that the dif- 

 ference between the size of the Elk and moose is some- 

 times very inconsiderable. I believe the horns of the 

 Elk often weigh more than those of the moose. It is 

 certain that they are frequently much larger. 



Note 3. Page 45. Dr. Smith (see Medical Repo- 

 sitory, p. 172) remarks, that the Elks, which he saw at 

 New- York, " ate tobacco, as variously prepared by the 

 tobacconist, with greediness." He was assured, that 

 this was " a natural appetite; and that the wild Elks 

 ate the wild plant." It would be difficult, I must ob- 

 serve, for the Elk to discover the tobacco plant groiving 

 wild: for I know not in what part of North-America 

 this vegetable has been discovered wild. We must, 



