The ELK * and the RAIN-DEER ** 



THOUGH the elk and rain- deer are ani- 

 mals of different fpecies, yet, as it would 

 be difficult to give the hiftory of the one with- 

 out 



* The elk has horns with fhort beams Threading into large 

 and broad palms, one iide of which is plain, the outmoft fur- 

 niihed with feveral (harp fnags. It has no brow antlers. The 

 largeft horn I have feen is in the houfe belonging to the Hud- 

 fon's Bay company, and weighed $6 pounds. The length is 35 

 inches, between tip and tjp 34, and the breadth of the palm 

 13^. There is in the lame place an excellent picture of an elk 

 which was killed in the prefence of Charles XI. of Sweden, 

 and weighed 1229 pounds. It is a very deformed and feem- 

 ingly difproportioned beaft. A young female, of about a 

 year old, was to the top of the withers 5 feet or 15 hands. 

 The head alone was two feet, and the length of the whole 

 animal, from nofe to tail, was about feven feet. The neck 

 was much fliorter than the head, with a fhort, thick, upright 

 mane, of a light brown colour. The eyes were fmall, the 

 ears one foot long, very broad and douching, and the noflrils 

 very large. The upper lip was fquare, hung greatly over 

 the lower, and had a deep fulcus in the middle, fo as to ap- 

 pear almoft bifid. The nofe was very broad. Under the 

 throat was a fmall excrefcence, from whence hung a long tuft 

 of coarfe black hair. The withers were very high, and the 

 fore- feet three feet three inches long. From the bottom of 

 the hoof to the end of the tibia was two feet four inches. 

 The hind legs were much fhorter than the fore-legs. The 

 hoofs were much cloven ; and the tail is very fhort, dufky a- 

 bove, and white beneath. The general colour of the body 



wag 



