384 
SCENES IN THE PACIFIC. 
Jars, and reckoning the average number at eight thousani, 
we may anive at an approximation to the great importance 
of this single locality to the Hudson’s Bay Company. The 
quality of the fur, however, is hardly so fine as that which is 
taken in a more northerly region. 
Cervus alces , The Moose, is found in all the woody and 
mountainous regions on the Columbia, and is abundant farther 
southward, near the coast. This noble animal, the largest, 
heaviest, and stateliest, of the deers, is peculiarly worthy of 
mention. In size scarcely inferior to the horse, with his huge 
palmated horns stretching three feet on each side of his head, 
his long legs and racking gait giving a singular and gro¬ 
tesque air to all his movements, the moose is perhaps the 
most remarkable inhabitant of the country. Over level 
ground, and when unimpeded by bushes, or by snow, his 
speed is superior to that of the swiftest horse, and the crack¬ 
ing of his joints and hoofs can be heard almost as far as his 
form can be seen. In fact it is only when a deep snow covers 
the ground that the capture of the moose can be well effected. 
When this is the case, the expert hunter, with his snow-shoes 
and his dogs, becomes more than a match for the moose, 
with all his desperate efforts to escape. A day is generally 
selected after a deep fall of snow has been followed by a 
slight rain, which forms a crust on the surface. The poor 
moose, whose great size and weight are here of the utmost 
disadvantage to him, is hindered in his flight by breaking 
through the crust, which cuts ana bruises his legs, and sink¬ 
ing into the snow, soon becomes exhausted ; while the light¬ 
ness of the dogs, and the snow-sho:s of the pursuer, bear 
them forward in safety, and soon the crack of the unerring 
rifle tells that the noble game has met his fate. The tongue 
of the moose is considered a great delicacy by the hunters, and 
his skin and horns are also of great value. . This animal, 
when full grown, is from twelve to fourteen hands high, and 
weighs from five to nine hundred pounds. Its color is a 
dark greyish brown, fading into white or light fawn color 
