ELK. 267 



seen thirty-three hands, or twelve feet high, and 

 other writers have said that its horns have been 

 known to weigh between three and four hundred 

 pounds ; but these are accounts which seem to de- 

 serve but little credit, and are probably OAving to 

 the vague and uncertain descriptions communis 

 cated by the Indian tribes. 



That some animal, however, of the deer kind, 

 far superior in size to any at present known, does 

 either exist, or has at least existed, is sufficiently 

 proved by the enormous fossil horns Avhich are 

 often found at a considerable depth in the bogs of" 

 Ireland, as well as in America and other parts of 

 the world ; and which have by many been sup- 

 posed to belong to the Elk or Moose. Their ap- 

 pearance, however, differs so considerably from 



1)6 two fathom asunder, (a fathom is six feet from the tip of one 

 finger to the tip of the other, that is four cubits,) and in height 

 from the toe of the fore-feet to the pitch of the shoulder twelve 

 foot, both which hath been taken by some of my sceptique readers 

 to be monstrous lyes. If you consider the breadth that the beast 

 carrieth, and the magnitude of the horns, you will be easily in- 

 duced to contribute your belief. And for their height since I cams 

 into England I have read Dr. Schrodcrus his chymicai dispensatory 

 translated into English by Dr. Roidand, where he writes that when 

 he lived in Finland under Gnstavus Horn, he saw an Elke that was 

 kilkd and presented to Gust aim his mother, seventeen spans high, 

 Lo you now sirs of the gibing crue, if you have any skill in men- 

 suration, tell me what difference there is between seventeen spans 

 and twelve foot. There are certain transcendentia in every crea- 

 ture, which are the indelible characters of God, and which discover 

 God 5 there's a prudential for you, as John Rhodes the fisherman 

 used to say to his mate Kitt Lux," — Account of two voyages to New 

 England, S^c. hy John Josselyn, gent, p. 88. 



