THE HABITS OF THE MOOSE. 



203 



kind. On one occasion three Indians were hunting and fell 

 upon the tracks of a female Moose and her young one. They 

 immediately gave chase, and in a short time the " Mannisheesh," 

 or young one, became fatigued and stopped. One of the Indians, 

 who had left his companions a short distance behind, approached 

 in his haste too near the game. The young Moose instantly 

 leaped towards him. In his eagerness to escape, his snow-shoe 

 caught in a willow, and down he went with the Moose on top of 

 him bucking and trampling with all four feet. His companions 

 came up. The Moose again took to flight, and they went to pull 

 out of the snow what they were quite certain would be a mangled 

 corpse, but the man had scarcely received a scratch, so they shook 

 him, and, joining in a hearty laugh, started again in pursuit. 



The Moose down at Peel River and the Yukon are much 

 larger than up this way. There I have known two cases of 

 extraordinary Moose having been killed, the meat alone of each 

 of them weighing about 1000 pounds. The Loucheux have a 

 superstition that the Indian who meets with one of these extra- 

 ordinarily large Moose is sure to die within the year, or else 

 meet with some grievous misfortune. 



A north wind in winter, when the sun does not rise high 

 above the horizon, affords the best chance for Moose hunting. 

 From some cause which I do not understand, the sun being then 

 towards the south, shining against the wind, causes the tracks 

 to be seen from a considerable distance. The hunter thus sees 

 from a distance in which direction the Moose has gone, and acts 

 accordingly. When the winds come from the east, west, or 

 south, the tracks can rarely be distinguished more than a few 

 yards off, and thus frequently they start the game in an unexpected 

 quarter, without being able to get a shot. 



Moose rise and feed at dawn. About sunrise they again 

 lie down to chew the cud or sleep till 10 or 11 o'clock. Then 

 they feed till 2 o'clock in the afternoon, again lie down till 

 4 or 5 o'clock, then feed till dusk, when they lie down for 

 the night. 



They generally lie down with their tails to windward, trusting 

 to their senses of hearing and smelling, which are remarkably 

 acute, to warn them of approaching danger from that quarter; 

 they can use their eyes to warn them from danger to leeward, 

 where hearing, and especially smelling, would be of little use. 



