_ " THE ELK. 257 



Description. 



These animals must be extremely numerous in 

 the Oriental countries; as Tavernier informs us, 

 that in one journey he collected seven thousand 

 six hundred and seventy-three musk bags. 



The flesh of the males, though strongly in- 

 fected with the flavour of the musk, is sometimes 

 eaten by the Tartars and Russians; and the skin 

 are used in many parts as an article of dress. 

 The Russians scrape off the hair, and have a me- 

 thod of preparing the leather so as to render it 

 $s soft and shining as silk, - *' < 



'Jo 



THE ELK, 



THIS animal is often larger than the horse, 

 both in height and bulk; but the length of its 

 legs, the bulk of its body, the shortness of its 

 neck, and uncommon length of its head and ears, 

 without any appearance of a tail, render its form 

 extremely awkward. The hair of the male ig 

 black at the points, cinereous in the middle, and 

 perfectly white at the roots. That of the female 

 is of a sandy-brown, but whitish under the throat, 

 belly, and flanks. The upper-lip is broad, deeply 

 furrowed, and hangs over the mouth; the nose 

 it broad, and the nostrils remarkably large and 

 wide. The horns, which are found only on the 

 males, have no brow-antlers, and the palms are 

 Extremely broad. They are shed annually ^ an.4 

 2 K 2 



