236 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 
not smaller than a common pipe-stem* ; they seem particularly partial to red: 
willows” (cornus alba.) To the eastward of the Rocky Mountains the evergreen 
leaves of the gualtheria shallon form, according to Lewis and Clark, a favourite 
part of the food of the moose-deer. 
The flesh of the moose is more relished by the Indians and residents in the fur 
countries than that of any other animal, and principally, I believe, on account of its. 
soft fat. It bears a greater resemblance in its flavour to beef than to venison. 
“‘ The flesh of the moose,” says Hearne, “‘is very good, though the grain is but, 
coarse, and it is much tougher than any other kind of venison. The nose is most. 
excellent, as is also the tongue, though by no means so fat and delicate as that of 
the common deer (rein-deer.) The fat of the intestines is hard like suet ; but all 
the external fat is soft like that of a breast of mutton, and, when put into a bladder, 
is as fine as marrow. In this they differ from all the other species of deer, of 
which the external fat is as hard as that of the kidnies.” 
The moose acquires a large size, particularly the males, which, I have been 
informed, occasionally attain a weight of eleven or twelve hundred pounds. Moose. 
dung is in form of oval, brown pellets. Theirskins, when properly dressed, make 
a soft, thick, pliable leather, excellently adapted for moccasins, or other articles 
of winter clothing. The Dog-ribs excel in the art of dressing the skins, which is 
done in the following manner. They are first scraped to an equal thickness. 
throughout, and the hair taken off by a scraper, made of the shin-bone of a deer, 
split longitudinally ; they are then repeatedly moistened and rubbed, after being 
smeared with the brains of the animal, until they acquire a soft, spongy feel ; 
and lastly, they are suspended over a fire, made of rotten wood, until they are well 
impregnated with the smoke. ‘This last-mentioned process imparts a peculiar 
odour to the leather, and has the effect of preventing it from becoming so hard, 
after being wet, as it would otherwise do. 
The prescription of the moose, by Major Smith, being the fullest and most 
correct I have met with, I have quoted almost the whole of it. . 
«‘ This animal is the largest of the genus, being higher at the shoulders than the horse; its 
horns weigh sometimes near fifty pounds}: accordingly, to bear this heavy weight, its neck 
is short and strong, taking away much of the elegance of proportion so generally predominant. 
in the deer; but when it is asserted that the elk wants beauty or majesty, the opinion can 
* The wooden pipe-stems used in Hudson’s Bay are about the thickness of the little finger. 
+ Hearne says, that the horns of the moose sometimes exceed 60lbs., and havea harder texture than any other deer- 
horns to be found in the fur--countries. 
