348 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 
weight, usually a log of wood, was attached. This was held 
suspended high above the ground by a trip, properly arranged, 
which was to spring by the least strain from the loop of the 
thong. Through this the Moose would unsuspectingly pass, till 
his breast, or fore legs should touch the lower line of the noose, 
when the trip would spring, the weight would drop, and the line 
would be drawn tightly around the neck of the animal. The 
attachment to the limb not being rigid, the animal could go some 
distance by drawing the log up to the limb, but by the time this 
was done, the animal would be nearly choked down, the drag of 
the weight always maintaining the severe tension. A few 
minutes rearing and struggling must always end in the death of 
the animal. In this mode the Indians captured many moose, 
elk, and other animals, before they obtained fire-arms; and even 
since, it has been sometimes resorted to with success. 
Whymper describes the mode practiced by the Indians in 
Alaska, of pursuing the Moose in the summer time. He says: 
“One was killed in the water by the knife of the Indian. The 
natives do not always waste powder and shot over them, but get 
near the moose, maneuvering round in their birch-bark canoes 
till the animal is fatigued, and then stealthily approach and stab 
it in the heart or loins.” ! 
All agree that they take to the water readily, and are good 
swimmers, though they swim higher than the common deer. In 
the summer they are usually hunted about the lakes and rivers 
which they frequent, and probably more are killed in the water 
and on the islands than on the main land. The author above 
quoted, in a note, says: ** In some cases, the Indians in numbers 
surround an island known to have moose or reindeer‘on it, when 
a regular battwe ensues.” 
The greatest slaughter of the Moose by the natives — and so it 
has been by the white men since — took place in the winter, when 
the country was covered over with deep snow. With the aid of 
snow-shoes, the Indians could pursue them at a rapid pace, while 
the Moose had to struggle through the snow, into which he 
would sink his whole depth at every step. No endurance could 
sustain him a long time with such labor, and his prodigious 
strength must at last succumb, while the Indian was rapidly pur- 
suing him on the surface of the light snow on his ‘broad snow- 
shoes. Later in the season, when the surface of the snow was 
softened or melted by the sun during the day, and became frozen 
1 Travels in Alaska and on the Yukon, p. 246. 
