22 



THE AMERICAN MOOSE 



and in height from the toe of the forefoot, to the 

 pitch of the shoulder twelve foot, both which hath 

 been taken by some of my sceptique Readers to 

 be monstrous lyes."^^ 



Before we criticise too severely Josselyn and 

 others of his time who made statements which 

 seem to us willfully exaggerated, we should consider 

 the circumstances under which they wrote. Cre- 

 dulity, not mendacity, was the failing of the age. 

 o Independent thought and research were dis- 

 couraged, and in some fields forbidden. The 

 gallows had not yet been erected on which to 

 hang the witches of Salem. . . . Perhaps some- 

 one had seen limbs of small trees broken by brows- 

 ing moose at a height of twelve feet from the ground, 

 and had foolishly assumed and asserted that there 

 were moose in the woods which were twelve feet 

 tall: if Josselyn had seen a thousand moose, none 

 of which exceeded six feet in height, he would 

 have been simply following the example of his 

 age if he accepted the larger dimension without a 

 question. 



In his earlier work. New Englands Rarities 

 Discovered (London, 1672), Josselyn paid some 

 attention to the medicinal and culinary qualities 



An Account of Two Voyages to New England^ hy }oh.n Josselyn, 

 Gent. (London, 1674), p. 88. 



