FOREST SPORTS. 
199 
ness of his neck, and the length of his legs, clearly indicate. On 
open plains he could scarcely exist, and his favorite haunts—to 
which is due his existence at the present moment—are the depths 
of forests and woodland morasses, which probably never will be 
cleared, owing to the severity of the climate, and the sterility 
of the soil. 
The most southerly and westward point, at which this noble 
specimen of the Deer tribe is now known to exist, is that singu¬ 
lar district, to which I have before alluded, composed entirely of 
an aggeries of mountains, rock-ribbed, and forest-girdled, inter¬ 
spersed with a perfect net-work of lakes, rivers, and morasses, 
lying between Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, the St. Law¬ 
rence, and the Black River. 
Here it still breeds, and yards in winter ; here it is yet killed 
by the hunters, and by the few Indians who yet linger in that 
region, or visit it from Canada during the season of deep snows, 
for the purpose; and here it may still be found, especially in 
the vicinity of the Racquet Lake and River, at the latter season, 
if I may rely on the authority of my friend, Charles F. Hoff¬ 
man, one of the first explorers of that romantic region, and one 
of the most enthusiastic of American woodmen, who has sung 
in his beautiful poem “ Kachesco,” that in Lake Incapahco- 
“ For fish and deer at either end, 
The rifts are good; but run-ways more 
There are by crooked Killoquore. 
And Racquet at the time of spearing. 
As well as that for yarding Moose, 
Hath both enough for hunters’ use.” 
Eastward of this wild and romantic tract, the hunters’ terres¬ 
trial paradise, it will scarcely be found south of the Canada line, 
until we reach the Dead River, famous for Arnold’s winter 
march against Quebec, and the vicinity of Moosehead Lake, in 
Maine ; though it is possible that a few may occasionally cross 
the Lines from the Eastern Townships of Lower Canada, about 
Lake Memphramagog, where it is still abundant, into the nor¬ 
thern parts of Vermont and New Hampshire. In the northern 
parts of Maine, what was formerly called the disputed territory, 
