DEER KIND. 343 



tail is not above an inch long. As in all of this 

 kind the upper lip is much longer than the under, 

 it is said that they continue to go backward as 

 they feed. Their nostrils are so large that a man 

 may thrust his hand in a considerable way ; and 

 their horns are as long as those of a stag, but, as 

 was observed, much broader. 



The black moose is the enormous animal men- 

 tioned above, from eight to twelve feet high. Jo- 

 celyn, who is the first English writer that men- 

 tions it, says, that it is a goodly creature, twelve 

 feet high, with exceeding fair horns, that have 

 broad palms, two fathoms from the top of one 

 horn to another. He assures us that it is a crea- 

 ture, or rather a monster of superfluity, and many 

 times bigger than an English ox. This account 

 is confirmed by Dudley ; but he does not give so 

 great an expansion to the horns, measuring them 

 only thirty-one inches between one tip and the 

 other : however, that such an extraordinary ani- 

 mal as Jocelyn describes has actually existed, we 

 can make no manner of doubt of, since there are 

 horns common enough to be seen among us twelve 

 feet from one tip to the other. 



These animals delight in cold countries, feed- 

 ing upon grass in summer, and the bark of trees 

 in winter. When the whole country is deeply 

 covered with snow, the moose-deer herd together 

 under the tall pine trees, strip off the bark, and 

 remain in that part of the forest while it yields 

 them subsistence. It is at that time that the 

 natives prepare to hunt them ; and particularly 

 when the sun begins to melt the snow by day, 



