3 2o THE ELK AND 



can apply to no other animal than the rain-deer, 

 and feems to prove that it then exifted in the 

 forefts of Germany: and Gallon Phaebus, fif- 

 teen centuries after Julius Caefar, feems to fpeak 

 of the rain-deer, under the name of rangier, as 

 an animal, which, in his time, exifted in the 

 forefts of France. He has even given a good 

 defcription * of this animal, and of the manner 



of 



Hence it is apparent, that the animal here pointed out by 

 Caefar, is the rain-deer, and not the elk ; efpecially as, in ano- 

 ther place, he mentions the elk, under the name of alee, in the 

 following terms : Sunt item in Hercinia filva quae appel- 

 lantur J Ices : Harum eft confimilis capris (capreis) figura et 

 varietas pellium : Sed magnitudine paulo antecedunt mutilae 

 quae funt cornibus et crura fine nodis, articulifque habent, ne- 



que quietis caufa procumbunt. His funt arbores pro 



cubilibus: Ad eas fe applicant: Atque ita paulum modo 

 reclinatae quietem capiunt : Quarum ex veftigiis cum eft 

 animadverfum a venatoribus quo fe recipere confueverint, 

 omnes eo loco aut a radicibus fubruunt aut abfeindunt arbores 

 tantum ut fumma fpecies earum ftantium relinquatur: Hue 

 cum fe confuetudine reclinaverint, infirmas arbores pondere 

 affiigunt atque una ipfae concidunt ; de hello Gallico lib. 6. 

 I allow that this fecond paflage contains nothing precife but 

 the name alee; and, to make it apply to the elk, the word 

 capreis mud be fubftituted for capris; and we muft fuppnfe, 

 at the fame time, that Caefar had only feen female elks, which 

 have no horns. All the reft is intelligible ; for the elk has 

 very ftiff limbs, that is, their articulations are very firm and 

 clofe ; and, as the ancients believed, that there were animals, 

 fuch as the elephant, which could neither bend their limbs 

 nor lie down, it is not furprifmg that they attribute to the 

 elk this fabulous ftory of the elephant. 



* The rangier or ranglier is an animal that refembles the 

 {lag; but his horns are larger and much more branched. 

 When hunted, he flies, on account of the great weight on his 



head. 



