MARCH. 
57 
they resort to drink ; and they are caught by traps laid in 
these paths. I am told that they are almost always dead 
when founds as they soon kick and worry themselves to death. 
I saw a stuffed moose at Quebec^ but it was not well mount- 
ed : if I recollect rightly^ it was taller than a horse. There 
is an opinion prevalent among the Indians^ that the moose, 
among the methods of self-preservation, with which he seems 
more acquainted than almost any other animal^ has the 
power of remaining under water for a long time. Two 
credible Indians, after a long day's absence on a hunt, came 
in and stated that they had chased a moose into a small 
pond ; that they had seen him go to the middle of it and 
disappear ; and then, choosing positions from which they 
could see every part of the circumference of the pond, smoked 
and waited until evening ; during all which time they could 
see no motion of the water, or other indication of the posi- 
tion of the moose. At length, being discouraged, they had 
abandoned all hope of taking him, and returned home. Not 
long afterwards came a solitary hunter, loaded with meat, 
who related, that having followed the track of a moose for 
some distance, he had traced it to the pond before mentioned ; 
but having also discovered the tracks of two men, made at 
the same time as those of the moose, he concluded they must 
have killed it. Nevertheless, approaching cautiously to the 
margin of the pond, he sat down to rest. Presently, he saw 
the moose rise slowly in the centre of the pond, which was 
not very deep, and wade towards the shore where he was 
sitting. When he came sufficiently near, he shot him in the 
water. The moose is more shy and difficult to take than 
any other animal. He is more vigilant, and his senses more 
acute, than those of the buffalo or caribou. He is fleeter 
than the elk, and more prudent and crafty than the deer. 
In the most violent storm, when the wind, and the thunder, 
and the falling timber are making the loudest and most inces- 
D 5 
