116 
THE MAINE WOODS. 
beneath and in front. I took the cord which served for 
the canoe’s painter, and with Joe’s assistance measured 
it carefully, the greatest distances first, making a knot 
each time. The painter being wanted, I reduced these 
measures that night with equal care to lengths and frac¬ 
tions of my umbrella, beginning with the smallest meas¬ 
ures, and untying the knots as I proceeded; and when 
we arrived at Chesuncook the next day, finding a two- 
foot rule there, I reduced the last to feet and inches; 
and, moreover, I made myself a two-foot rule of a thin 
and narrow strip of black ash which "would fold up 
conveniently to six inches. All this pains I took be¬ 
cause I did not wish to be obliged to say merely that 
the moose was very large. Of the various dimensions 
which I obtained I will mention only two. The dis¬ 
tance from the tips of the hoofs of the fore-feet, stretched 
out, to the top of the back between the shoulders, was 
seven feet and five inches. I can hardly believe my 
own measure, for this is about two feet greater than the 
height of a tall horse. [Indeed, I am now satisfied that 
this measurement was incorrect, but the other measures 
given here I can warrant to be correct, having proved 
them in a more recent visit to those woods.] The ex¬ 
treme length was eight feet and two inches. Another 
cow-moose, which I have since measured in those woods 
with a tape, was just six feet from the tip of the hoof 
to the shoulders, and eight feet long as she lay. 
When afterward I asked an Indian at the carry how 
much taller the male was, he answered, “ Eighteen 
inches,” and made me observe the height of a cross-stake 
over the fire, more than four feet from the ground, to 
give me some idea of the depth of his chest. Another 
Indian, at Oldtown, told me that they were nine feet 
