58 VIRGINIA DEER. 



the Indians, and taught to draw sledges with rapidity. 

 The Indians catch them in nets when young, rear them in 

 their huts with great care and kindness, and esteem them 

 the handsomest and most noble animal of the American 

 forest. They live to so great an age, that the Indians, when 

 speaking of an old man, say " he is old as a Wapiti." The 

 Wapiti are about twelve years old before they are full 

 grown, and they are then about sixteen hands high,* and 

 their horns weigh upwards of fifty pounds. Their attach- 

 ment to each other is remarkably strong ; and in their na- 

 tive wilds, each male Wapiti has his own peculiar family, 

 keeping their own range of pasturage. 



* A hand is a measure of four inches, applied to animals ; which are 

 measured from the ground to the level of the top of the shoulder, at the 

 back of the neck. 



