In a singular work, called *' An Account 
of Two Voyages to New England, &c. by- 
John Josselyn, Gent." published at London 
in 1674, the following marvellous ac- 
count of the American Moose-Deer — The 
Moose, or Elke, is a creature, or rather, if 
you will, a monster, of superfluity. A fulU 
grown Moose is many times bigger than an 
English Oxe. Their horns, as I have said 
elsewhere, very big; (and brancht out into 
palms) the tips whereof are sometimes found 
to be two fathoms 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 have 
been taken, by some of my sceptique readers, 
to be monstrous lyes. If you consider the 
breadth that the beast carrieth, and the magni- 
tude of the horns, you will be easily induced' 
to contribute your belief : and, for their height, 
since I came into England, I have read Dr. 
Schroderus his Chymical Dispensatory, trans- 
lated into English by Dr. Rowland, where he 
writes that " when he lived in Finland, under 
** Gustavus Horn, he saw an Elke that was. 
*' killed and presented to Gustavus his mother, 
" seventeeo. 
