CHAPTER XVI 



IN THE PRIMEVAL FOREST 



By honour, truth, and everything, I love thee so 



Twelfth Night 



She'll not be hit with Cupid's arrow ; she hath Dian's wit 



Romeo and Juliet 

 And I myself will see his burial 



King Henry VI 



Now began the times of times in the moose world. 

 Every Jack was seeking a Jill, rushing through the 

 vast forests to find her, roaring out his love troubles, 

 calling defiance to rivals, thrashing the trees with 

 vigorous antlers. All around we heard them, in the 

 tense silent nights, and our world seemed a-hum with 

 weird sounds, which carried on the new frosty air 

 with great distinctness. 



From the early days of September the bull moose, 

 monarch of all the deer tribe, travels rapidly, from the 

 low-lying swamps and rivers where he sought, after 

 the last of the snows, the sweetest willow shoots, to 

 the higher grounds, after the cows sequestered in the 

 sheltered forests and secluded timbered glades. The 

 calves are born early in the June days, and here, in 

 the primeval forest they all remain until the heavy 

 snows drive them to lower grounds. 



In Alaska the primitive birch-bark horn is not used 



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