274 SPORTING ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST. 



dense forest, for I have routed the same herd three times 

 in one day ; and that it was the same, I inferred from the 

 presence of two wounded animals, and the fact that it was 

 led by a splendid hind. 



When a herd is started, the males throw their cumbrous 

 antlers far back on the neck, so that the nose is high in 

 the air. One might imagine that they could not see the 

 ground very well under these circumstances; but whether 

 they do or do not, they trot through dense shrubbery and 

 over fallen trees with the greatest ease, and never falter or 

 break their gait, no matter what ordinary obstacles they 

 may have to surmount. Their pace is a long, measured 

 trot, which carries them over the ground at a rapid rate. 

 They can, I fancy, trot a mile several seconds under four 

 minutes, and, if pushed, might do it in three minutes. On 

 open or rocky ground they can put a good horse to his 

 mettle to overtake them, if they have a fair start, nor must 

 he lag on closing with them, if he would keep them com- 

 pany. They seem to be able to move at the same pace 

 over all kinds of ground, and it appears to be a matter of 

 indifference to them whether it is one mass of stones, ruts, 

 and hillocks, or a level prairie. This is where they have 

 the advantage over horses, and why it is so difficult to run 

 them down in a rough country. I have done it, however ; 

 but in nearly all cases I broke their trot first, and this fa- 

 tigued them so promptly that I was able to pull along-side 

 and give them the contents of a revolver or rifle. They 

 can go twenty or thirty miles easily without showing signs 

 of weariness or flagging, and, if forced to it, I am in- 

 clined to think they could go a hundred miles over a good 

 country. 



The size, strength, and speed of the elk ought to fit it 

 for some useful domestic purpose. It could be trained to 

 be a valuable beast of burden; and its speed is so great, 

 and it has so much power of endurance, that it could be 

 used either for drawing a carriage or to carry couriers 

 who have to ride long distances at a rapid rate. By treat- 

 ing it as geldings are, the pugnacity and ill-temper it dis- 



