HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 289 



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bear this heavy Tveight, its neck is short and strong 

 taking awaj much of the elegance of proportion so 

 generally predominant in the deer ; but when it is 

 asserted that the elk Trants beauty or majesty, the 

 opinion can be entertained by those only who have 

 seen the female, the young, or the mere stuffed speci- 

 mens ; for we who have had the opportunity of view- 

 ing the animal in all the glory of his full-grown horns, 

 amid the scenery of his own wilderness, no animal 

 could appear more majestic or more imposing. It is, 

 however, the aggregate of his appearance which pro- 

 duces this effect ; for when the proportions of its 

 structure are considered in detail, they certainly will 

 seem destitute of that harmony of parts which in the 

 imagination produces the feeling of beauty. The 

 head, measuring above two feet in length, is narrow 

 and clumsily shaped by the swelling upon the upper 

 part of the nose and nostrils ; the eye is proportion- 

 ally small and sunk ; the ears long, hairy, and asinine ; 

 the neck and withers are surmounted by a heavy 

 mane, and the throat furnished with long coarse hair, 

 and in younger specimens encumbered with a pendu- 

 lous gland ; these give altogether an uncouth charac- 

 ter to this part of the animal. Its body, however, is 

 round, compact, and short ; the tail not more than 

 four inches long, and the legs, though very long, 

 are remarkably clean and firm ; this length of limbs 

 and the overhanging lips, have <;*aused the ancients 

 to fancy that it grazed walking backwards. The 

 hair of the animal is coarse and angular, breaking 

 if bent. 



The Elk is an inhabitant of northern latitudes ; in 

 Europe between the fifty-third and sixty-fifth degrees, 

 making a part of Prussia, Poland, Sweden, Xorway, 



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