THE MOOSE AND HIS HISTORY 5 



It is impossible to say what European traveler 

 in North America first encountered the moose. 

 The earliest explorers on this continent were not 

 sportsmen; they knew little about the deer of 

 Europe, and were untrained as writers. As a 

 result they have left us meager information 

 relating to the characteristics or the numbers of 

 the various species of deer which they found in 

 their travels. 



Jacques Cartier, who explored the valley of the 

 St. Lawrence in 1535, and spent the winter there, 

 mentions various wild beasts which the Indians 

 hunted, including dains'' and cerfz.''^ Hiram 

 B. Stephens, B.C.L., translates dains by the word 



moose," but expresses doubt of the identity 

 of the animal.^ In several other places Cartier 

 mentions Cerfz ^ Dains,'' and tells how he 

 bought the meat of these animals from the Indians 

 in the winter for his men, who were dying of scurvy, 

 and were unable to hunt. As the Indian equiva- 

 lents of these words he gives Aiounesta y As- 

 quenoudo'' but these words are not to be found 

 in any of the Indian word-lists of other writers. 

 There is little reason to doubt, however, that one 



s Narration de la Navigation faite en MDXXXV et MDXXXVI par 

 Le Capitaine Jacques Cartier aux lies de Canada, Hochelaga, Saguenay et 

 autres, fol. 31. 



^ Jacques Cartier and His Four Voyagesto Canada (Montreal, i89o),p. 71. 



