The Prehistoric Huiiter. 33 



I here recall the narration of a friend of mine, an honest hunter 

 and trapper of northern Maine. His rifle became useless when far 

 away from his home- camp, and short of food, he came upon the 

 tracks of a large bull-moose. On his snow-shoes he followed these 

 tracks till night, when he slept in the hollow he scooped out 



KNIFE FOUND AT SAME PLACE AS AXE AND SPEAR-HEAD — COLLECTION OK ALFRED It. MAYER. 



between two fallen trees. At break of day, he was up and speeding 

 on the snow after his game. In the afternoon, he first caught sight 

 of the moose. He had nothing with which to attack the huge beast 

 but a pocket-knife. With this he cut down a sapling birch and tied 

 the knife to it in such manner that the blade could not close upon 

 the handle. He only stopped a moment in the chase to cut down 

 the sapling, trimming it of its branches and tying to it the knife 

 while he was scudding over the snow. Overtaking the moose and 

 using his extemporized lance, he gave him a severe stab in the 

 throat. The bull at once charged him ; but the hunter was pre- 

 pared for this, and escaped the danger by quickly stepping behind a 

 tree. After several repetitions of this manoeuvre the moose became 

 exhausted from loss of blood and desperation, and fell at last, a 

 victim to the blade of a pocket-knife in the hands of a man, because 

 he was his superior in endurance. 



While he told his story, I pictured to myself the 

 man of the drift armed with a similar weapon in his 

 sharp flint spear, and chasing the great Irish elk 

 over the crust of the snow-clad hills of Europe. 



After my friend had slain the moose, he set out 



in search of a fellow-trapper who would help him 



carry the meat to camp and share it with him; but 



before he left the moose he turned him on his back, 



A i R \kTkv AI ^f™n K d- anc l With lumps of snow propped up his legs, so 



MAYE°fc AL " that if a storm should occur in his absence the 



3 



