THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 



27 



were found in great numbers on the island of Cape 

 Breton, had been exterminated by the Indians, 

 and that the Indians themselves had then been 

 forced to abandon the island for lack of game.^^ 

 Prince Edward Island also was destitute of moose, 

 though there were some caribou, which are an- 

 other species of moose." 



Perhaps the disappearance of this class of game 

 from the Acadian Islands was due to the com- 

 mercial demands of Europe. Describing the terri- 

 tory at the head of the Bay of Fundy Denys wrote: 

 ^'The Sieur d'Aunay in his time [1645-1650] 

 traded in moose skins there to the extent of 3000 

 skins a year, besides beaver and otter, which was 

 the reason why he dispossessed the Sieur de la 

 Tour of it."'^'' No doubt many of the Cape Breton 

 and Prince Edward Island moose skins had gone 

 to the European market by way of Sieur d'Aulnay's 

 trading post. The Indian killed only to supply 

 his simple needs, until the white man came and 

 sought skins for export. But the price of peltries 

 was paid in the Frenchman's brandy,"*^ and the 

 death-rate among the moose soon mounted rapidly. 



38 Description Geographique et Historique des Costes de VAmerigue 

 Septentrionale. Avec VHistoire naturelle du Pais. Par Monsieur Denys, 

 Couverneur Lieutenant-General pour le Roy^ vol. i., p. 163. 



39 Uhi supra, vol. i., p. 202. Uhi supra, vol. i., p. 50. 

 4» Denys, vol. ii., chap, xxvii. 



