348 THE ELK AND 



rough, and his fkin fo hard, that It is hardly 

 penetrable by a mufket ball *. His limbs are 

 extremely firm, and poflefs fuch agility and 

 ftrength, that, with a fingle blow of his fore- 

 feet, he can flay a man, or a wolf, and even 

 break a tree. He is hunted, however, by men 

 and dogs, in the fame manner as the ftag. We 

 are aflured, that, when purfued, he often falls 

 down fuddenly f , without being either fhot or 



wounded. 



His feet, efpecially thofe before, are not round, but long, and he 

 ftrikes with them fo furioufly as to kill both men and dogs. 

 Neither does he more referable the rain-deer in the form of 

 his head, which is longer, and his lips are large and pendu- 

 lous. His colour is not fo white as that of the rain-deer, but, 

 oyer the whole body, it is an obfeure yellow, mixed with a 

 cinereous gray. When he moves, he makes no noife with his 

 joints, which is common to all rain- deer. In fine, whoever ex- 

 amines both animals, as I have often done, will remark fo many 

 differences, that he will have reafon to be furprifed how any 

 man fhould regard them as the fame fpecies ; Scbeffer, p. 310. 

 * Alces ungula ferit, quinquaginta milliaria de die percflr- 

 rit. corium globum plumbeum fere eludit ; Linn. Syjl. Nat. 



A 93- 



t We had rot advanced a piftol (hot into the wood, when 

 we defcried an elk, which, when running before us, fuddenly 

 dropped down, without being fo much as fired at. We afked 

 cur guide and interpreter how the animal came to fall in 

 this manner. He replied, that it was the falling ficknefs, to 

 which thefe animals are fubjecl, and affigned that as the rea- 

 fon of their being called ellenJs, which lignifies miferahle ... If 

 this difeafe did not often bring them down, it would be difficult 

 to fcize them. The Norwegian gentleman killed this elk 

 while it was under the influence of its difeafe. We purfued 

 another two hours, and would never have taken him, if he 

 had not, like the firft, fallen down, after having killed three 

 tfrong dogs with his fore-feet This gentleman prefers 



tit 



