ORDER RUMINANTIA. 73 



near fifty pounds ; accordingly, to bear this heavyweight, 

 its neck is short and strong, taking away much of the ele- 

 gance of proportion, so generally predominant in the Deer; 

 but when it is asserted that the Elk wants beauty or ma- 

 jesty, the opinion can be entertained by those only who 

 have seen the female, the young, or the mere stuffed speci- 

 men : for us who have had the opportunity of viewing the 

 animal in all the glory of his full-grown horns, amid the 

 scenery of his own wilderness, no animal could appear 

 more majestic or more imposing. It is, however, the ag- 

 gregate of his appearance which produces this effect ; for 

 when the proportions of its structure are considered in de- 

 tail, they certainly will seem destitute of that harmony of 

 parts, which in the imagination produces the feeling of 

 beauty. The head measuring above two feet in length, is 

 narrow and clumsily shaped by the swelling upon the upper 

 part of the nose and nostrils ; the eye is proportionably 

 small and sunk ; the ears long, hairy, and asinine ; the 

 neck and withers are surmounted by a heavy mane, and 

 the throat furnished with long coarse hair, and in younger 

 specimens encumbered with a pendulous gland : these give 

 altogether an uncouth character to this part of the animal. 

 Its body, however, is round, compact, and short; the tail 

 not more than four inches long, and the legs, though very 

 long are remarkable clean and firm : this length of limbs, 

 and the overhanging lips, have caused the ancients to 

 fancy, that it grazed walking backwards. The hair of the 

 animal is coarse and angular, breaking if bent. 



The Elk is an inhabitant of northern latitudes ; in Eu- 

 rope between the fifty-third and sixty-fifth degrees : making 

 a part of Prussia, Poland, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Lap- 

 land, and Russia. In Asia it is found further south, from 

 thirty-five to beyond the fiftieth, spreading over Tartary, 

 and abounding in Japan, if indeed the denomination of 

 Elk is not mistated for that of a Rusa, or an undescribed 



Vol. IV*. G 



