MOOSE-HUNTING IN THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. 23 



hair, till it was inclosed, completely, in a case of mud two 

 inches thick. I might remark that it was not particularly 

 well dressed, after the manner of modern civilized butchers, 

 but was coated and cooked with tongue intact. The pro- 

 cess of removing the horns was an excuse for saving the 

 brains as a separate dish for the complaining member of the 

 company. You have all heard of the great dish of brains 

 provided from the Moose. The writer who repeats that 

 well-worn story never knew much, personally, about the 

 Moose. He has either been deceived by the cook, and 

 believed the "hump" was the brain, or he has written 

 about that of which he saw nothing. The Moose has no 

 more brains (in quantity) than the beef steer, but with that 

 sweet meat from the hump a quantity could be prepared 

 that would make the uninitiated think the head, horns, and 

 all were filled with brains. 



But to return. Our Moose-head was coated with clay. 

 In the meantime, a hole was shoveled out, large as a pork- 

 barrel, and was filled up with dry wood, which was made 

 to burn like a furnace till the sides of the oven were almost 

 white with heat. The head was dropped into the hole and 

 covered with live coals of fire. Over all was thrown the 

 loose dirt dug from the hole, and the Moose-head was left 

 to roast till the next morning. We all retired, feeling like 

 a child on Christmas eve who longs for the coming of 

 Christmas morning. 



When that head was lifted to the temporary table, after 

 ten hours of roasting, it was steaming hot, and the aroma 

 made us ravenous as wolves. The clay was baked like a 

 brick, and when cracked and torn off it removed the skin, 

 and left the clean, white, sweet meat exposed. The flavor 

 of the juicy hump of the Moose I could not describe, but it 

 had enriched every part of our roast with its deliciousness, 

 and few such breakfasts have been eaten by hay-makers as 

 we ate that morning. 



It is not the custom of the resident hunters, in the 

 Rocky Mountain region, to preserve the skins of Moose 

 they kill, for these are of but little value. They are not 



