T^HICK-SKINNED QUADRUPEDS. 



18* 



devouring them, is now considered fabulous. During life thia 

 useful animal supplies its master witli labor and milk ; and, when 

 dead, every part becomes serviceable, the skin for clothing, and 

 for boots ; the horns to make utensils ; the sinews for thread, and 

 the flesh for food : the intestines are also used ; and the tongue ia 

 a well-known article of commerce. 



The Elk of Europe is not the same with the Moosc-deei 

 of America : it is found in Europe between latitude 53° and GS'' : 

 in size it is higher than a horse; 

 and, to support the enormous 

 weight of its horns, sometimes 

 nearly fifty pounds, its neck is 

 short, thick, and very strong. 

 Its movements are rather heavy : 

 it does not gallop, but ambles 

 along, the joints cracking so 

 much at every step, that the 

 sound is heard to some distance. 

 During winter it chiefly resides 

 in hilly woods; but in summer 



it frequents swamps and the borders of lakes ; often going deep 

 into the water, to escape the stings of gnats, etc., and to feed with- 

 out stooping. With its enormous horns it turns down branches 

 of trees, to feed upon the bark, with great dexterity ; and these 

 are also used as shovels, to get at pasture when covered with snow. 



The Elk. 



THICK-SKINNED QUADRUPEDS. 



The Horse. — The characters of the horse, or equus cabal- 

 lus, are, hoofs undivided, and mane and tail, with long, flowing hair. 

 This noble animal has been so much and so long connected with 

 man, that history does not mention a period when horses were un- 

 tamed. Still, however, multitudes of them are found in a wild 

 stat« in many parts of the earth. Large herds are occasionally 

 seen in the southern parts of Siberia, in the great Mongolian 

 deserts, and among the Kalkas, to the north-west of China. At 

 the Cape of Good Hope there are numbers of unreclaimed horses 



