THE ELK, 014 MOOSE. 
131 
tlie enraged animal has completely stripped the bark 
from the trunk of a tree hy striking with its fore 
feet.” According to Say, at other limes, when 
wounded, he is also dangerous. His hunters wound- 
ed an animal, which fled to a thicket, where it was 
pursued hy the party. “ The noble animal finding 
his pursuers at his heels, turned on the foremost, 
xvho only saved himself by springing into a diicket, 
which the Elk could not penetrate.” In this case, 
his horns become his greatest foe, for he soon be- 
came entangled, and fell an easy victim : his head 
was enveloped in such a quantity of Cissus, Smilax, 
and other twiggy vines, that scarcely the tips of his 
horns could be seen. 
In Europe, the Elk is less accurately known, ana 
although, as we observed, surmises of a difterence 
in the species have been raised, yet nothing definite 
has been discovered, and the correct characters, from 
European specimens, have not yet been published. 
It is said to be found in a part of Prussia, Poland, 
Sweden, Norway, Finland, Lapland, and Russia ; 
and in Asia, to spread from the thirty-fifth to the 
fiftieth degrees. 
In Sweden, the powers of this animal were made 
subservient to public utility. In the reign of 
Charles IX., Elks were made use of for the purpose 
of conveying couriers, and were capable of accom 
plishing 36 Swedish (about 234 English) mi es ui 
a day, when attached to a sledge. 
Dorelli, a Sw-edish gentleman, recommends them 
