THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 25 



or Branches to each Horn, and generally spread 

 about six Foot."^^ 



The range of the moose will be discussed in a 

 subsequent chapter. The causes which would 

 affect the numbers of moose within this range 

 were very different in the Colonial period from 

 those which prevail today. The moose's enemies 

 were then wild animals and crust-hunting Indians 

 who were only a little less wild. He enjoyed no 

 protection from the law-makers, but he was not 

 required to face modern firearms. How the winter 

 death-rate among those of his species two centuries 

 ago would compare with the autumn death-rate 

 in this era of game laws and high-power rifles 

 will always be a matter of speculation. 



Champlain on his map of New France, drawn in 

 1632, notes Ckasse des Eslans^' in three places on 

 the Gaspe Peninsula, but no doubt moose were 

 equally numerous through a vast area south and 

 west of that section. 



Gabriel Sagard-Theodat, who visited the vari- 

 ous Indian missions in Canada a few years 

 after Champlain's time, writes: Les eslans ou 

 orignats . . . sont frequents en grand nombre 

 au pays des Montagnais, iff fort rare a celuy des 



^^Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 1721, pp. 165 et 

 seq. 



