MARCH. 57 



they resort to drink ; and they are caught by traps laid in 

 these paths. I am told that they are almost always dead 

 when found, as they soon kick and worry themselves to death. 

 I saw a stuffed moose at QuebeC;, but it was not well mount- 

 ed : if I recollect rightly, it was taller than a horse. " There 

 is an opinion prevalent among the Indians, that the moose, 

 among the methods of self-preservation, with which he seems 

 more acquainted than almost any other animal, has the \^ 

 power of remaining under water for a long time. Two v^cTtN 

 credible Indians, after a long day's absence on a hunt, came ^ 

 in and stated that they had chased a moose into a small 

 pond ; that they had seen him go to the middle of it and 

 disappear; and then, choosing positions from which they 

 could see every part of the circumference of the pond, smoked 

 and waited until evening ; during all which time they could 

 see no motion of the water, or other indication of the posi- 

 tion of the moose. At length, being discouraged, they had 

 abandoned all hope of taking him, and returned home. Not 

 long afterwards came a solitary hunter, loaded with meat, 

 who related, that having followed the track of a moose for 

 some distance, he had traced it to the pond before mentioned; 

 but having also discovered the tracks of two men, made at 

 the same time as those of the moose, he concluded they must 

 have killed it. Nevertheless, approaching cautiously to the 

 margin of the pond, he sat down to rest. Presently, he saw 

 the moose rise slowly in the centre of the pond, which was 

 not very deep, and wade towards the shore where he was 

 sitting. When he came sufficiently near, he shot him in the 

 water. The moose is more shy and difficult to take than 

 any other animal. He is more vigilant, and his senses more 

 acute, than those of the buffalo or caribou. He is fleeter 

 than the elk, and more prudent and crafty than the deer. 

 In the most violent storm, when the wind, and the thunder, 

 and the falling timber are making the loudest and most inces- 



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