4S-2 MOOSE HUNT. 



Moose had rested for the night. He had not left this place more than 

 an hour, when we came to it. So we pushed on faster than before, trust- 

 ing that ere long we should overtake him. We had proceeded about a 

 mile and a half farther, when he took a sudden turn, which threw us off' 

 his track, and when we again found it, we saw that an Indian had taken 

 it up and gone in pursuit of the harassed animal. In a short time we 

 heard the report of a gun, and immediately running up, we saw the 

 Moose standing in a thicket wounded, when we brought him down. The 

 animal finding himself too closely pursued, had turned upon the Indian, 

 who fired and instantly ran into the bushes to conceal himself. It was 

 three years old, and consequently not nearly grown, although already 

 about six feet and a half in height. 



It is difficult to conceive how an animal could have gone at such a 

 rate, when the snow was so deep, with a thick crust at top. In one place 

 he had followed the course of a brook, over which the snow had sunk 

 considerably on account of the higher temperature of the water, and we 

 had an opportunity of seeing evidence of the great power which the spe- 

 cies possesses in leaping over objects that obstruct his way. There were 

 places in which the snow had drifted to so great a height, that you would 

 have imagined it impossible for any animal to leap over it, and yet we 

 found that he had done so at a single bound, without leaving the least 

 trace. As I did not measure these snow-heaps, I cannot positively say 

 how high they were, but I am well persuaded that some of them were 

 ten feet. 



We proceeded to skin and dress the Moose, and buried the flesh un- 

 der the snow, where it will keep for weeks. On opening the animal we 

 were surprised to see the great size of the lungs and heart, compared with 

 the contents of the abdomen. The heart was certainly larger than that 

 of any animal which I had seen. The head bears a great resemblance to 

 that of a horse, but the " mufiBe" is more than twice as large, and when 

 the animal is irritated or frightened, it projects that part much farther 

 than usual. It is stated in some descriptions of the Moose, that he is 

 short-winded and tender- footed, but he certainly is capable of long-con- 

 tinued and very great exertion, and his feet, for any thing that I have 

 seen to the contrary, are as hard as those of any other quadruped. The 

 younf Moose was so exhausted and fretted, that it offered no opposition 

 to us as we led it to the camp ; but in the middle of the night we were 

 awakened by a great noise in the hovel, and found that as it had in some 



