MAMMALIA—MOOSE. a39 
in the fore feet, that he can kill a man by one single stroke of his foot; 
nevertheless, he is hunted nearly as we hunt the stag; that is, with men 
and dogs. It is affirmed, that when he is touched with the lance, or pur- 
sued, it happens that he often falls down all at once, without either being 
pulled down or wounded. From this circumstance, some have presumed 
he was subject to the epilepsy; and on this presumption, which is not well 
founded, (since fear alone might be able to produce the same effect,) this 
absurd conclusion has been drawn, that his hoof is a remedy for the eyilep- 
sy, and even preserves persons from it. His pace, when disturbed, is a 
rapid kind of trot. In walking, he lifts his feet very high, and can, without 
difficulty, step over a gate that is five feet high. 
Naturalists have generally considered the moose deer to be the same 
species with the elk of the northern parts of the Old World; but the fact 
that few of the American quadrupeds have been found precisely similar to 
their Europeen representatives, ought to excite doubts of the identity of the 
moose and Scandinavian elk. The moose exists in considerable numbers, 
near the Bay of Fundy; and frequents the woody tracts in the fur countries 
to their most northern limit, and on the Mackenzie and Coppermine rivers, 
where they feed on the willows and aspen. They are rarely, if ever, found 
west of the Rocky Mountains. In the more northern parts, the moose is 
gvite a solitary animal. It has the sense of hearing in very great perfection, 
snd is the most shy and wary of all the deer species, and on this account 
moose hunting is looked upon as the greatest of an Indian’s acquirements. 
The skill of a mecse hunter is most tried-in the early part of the winter, 
as the animal is tracked by its foot marks on the snow; and it is necessary 
that he should keep constantly to leeward and use the utmost caution, for 
the rustling of a leaf is sufficient to alarm the watchful beast. In this man- 
ner, he tracks tue animal, till by the marks on the snow he discovers that 
he is very near to him. He then breaks a twig, which, alarming the moose, 
it springs up anJ prepares to start. The hunter now fires, and seldom fails 
a killing him. 
In the sprivz, when the snow is very deep, the hunters frequently chase 
them on snow shoes. Notwithstanding the Jengthened chase which the 
