the bark of trees in winter. When the whole country is deeply covered with snow, the moose-deer herd together under the tall pine-trees, strip off the bark, and remain in that part of the forest while it yields them subsistence. It is at that time that the natives prepare to hunt them, and particularly when the sun begins to melt the snow by day, which is frozen again at night; for then the icy crust which covers the surface of the snow is too weak to support so great a to Elverum, which was in the vicinity of his residence, a distance of between twenty and thirty miles; and to have faced in a northerly direction for a line of country where they were in the habit of passing that inclement period of the year. These noble animals, the pride of the Scandinavian wilds, were formerly found in many other parts of Europe, where the species is now altogether extinct. They were common to the forests of Germany, as well as of Gaul. The elk was at one time numerous in most parts of Sweden and Norway; but owing to the increased population, and other causes, it is now only to be met with in particular districts. In Scania, the most southern province of Sweden, where they once abounded, there are now none to be found. "The elk cannot endure,” says Nellsson, a Swedish naturalist," so cold a climate as the stag, the sixty-fourth degree of latitude being the extreme limit at which he is met with in the Scandinavian Peninsula. The elk is sometimes of an enormous size; though his length be not proportionate, it is said, he not unfrequently attains to the height of seven or eight feet. This I can readily believe, as Mr. Wise, the Swedish consul-general, had one in his possession a few years ago, which, though only two years of age, measured nearly nineteen hands, or upwards of six feet at the shoulder. I once took the exact dimensions of a rather large male elk that I shot; but, unfortunately, I lost the measuringstring out of my pocket. Though this animal was not fully grown, it was thought he weighed near one thousand pounds. The male is very much larger than the female. The period of gestation with the elk is about nine months; the female brings forth, about the middle of May, from one to three young ones; it is seldom, however, that she has more than two. At this period, the mother retires alone to the wildest recesses of the forest. After the lapse of two or three days, the fawns, which are of a light brown colour, have sufficient strength to follow their dam everywhere. They keep with her until they are in their third year, when she leaves them to shift for themselves. The elk is a long-lived animal; he does not attain to his full growth until after his fourteenth year: at least, so it is to be presumed, as up to that period his horns, which are of a flat form, are annually provided with an additional branch. He sheds his horns about the month of February in each year. The female elk has no horns. By nature, the elk is timorous, and he usually flies at the sight of a man. In the rutting season, however, like other animals, he is said to be dangerous. His weapons are his horns and his hoofs: he strikes so forcibly with the latter, as to annihilate a wolf, or other large animal, at a single blow. It is said, that when the elk is incensed, the hair on his neck bristles up like the mane of a lion, which gives him a wild and frightful appearance. In the summer season, the elk usually resorts to morasses and low situations, for he frequently takes to the water in warm weather; he is an admirable swimmer. In the winter, he retires to the more sheltered parts of the forest, where willow, ash, &c. are to be found; as, from the small boughs of these trees, he obtains his sustenance during that inclement period of the year. The flesh of the elk is excellent, whether fresh or smoked. Mr. Nellsson says it resembles in taste that of the stag. The tongue and the nose are thought to be great delicacies in Scandinavia, as well as in America. Great virtue was once placed in the hoof of the animal, as parings of it were supposed to be a specific against the falling sickness and other disorders; this idle notion is exploded. The skin is convertible to many purposes, and is very valuable. Mr. Greiff says "It is not long since that a regiment was clothed with buff waistcoats, made from the hides of those animals, which were so thick, that a ball could scarcely penetrate them." He adds further, that, "when made into breeches, a pair of them, among the peasantry of former days, went as a legacy for several generations." The elk is easily domesticated. Formerly, these animals were made use of in Sweden, to draw sledges; but owing, as it was said, to their speed frequently accelerating the escape of people who had been guilty of murders or other crimes, the use of them was prohibited, under great penalties. The usual manner in which these animals are killed is something curious. With his well-trained dog in a long leash, the sportsman proceeds to those parts of the forest frequented by the elk: whilst traversing this, he halts occasionally, to give his dog the wind. This the intelligent animal seems perfectly to understand; for, holding up his nose, he snuffs the passing breeze. When, bulk, and only retards the animal's motion. When the Indians, therefore, perceive a herd of these at a distance, they immediately prepare for their pursuit, which is not, as with us, the sport of an hour, but is attended with toil, difficulty, and danger. (g) The timorous animal no sooner observes its enemies approach than it immediately endeavours to escape, but sinks at every step it takes. Still, however, it pursues its way through a thousand obstacles; the snow, which is usually four feet deep, yields to its weight, and embarrasses its speed; the sharp ice wounds its feet; and its lofty horns are entangled in the branches of the forest, as it passes along. The trees, however, are broken down with ease; and wherever the moose deer runs, it is perceived by the snapping off the branches of trees, as thick as a man's thigh, with its horns. The chase lasts in this manner for the whole day; and sometimes it has been known to continue for two, nay, three days together; for the pursuers are often not less excited by famine than the pursued by fear. Their perseverance, however, generally succeeds; and the Indian who first comes near enough darts his lance, with unerring aim, which sticks in the poor animal, and at first increases its efforts to escape. In this manner the moose trots heavily on, (for that is its usual pace,) till its pursuers once more come up, and repeat their blow. Upon this, it again summons up sufficient vigour to get a-head; but at last, quite tired, and spent with loss of blood, it sinks, as the describer expresses it, like a ruined building, and makes the earth shake beneath its fall.* This animal, when killed, is a very valuable acquisition to the hunters. The flesh is very well tasted, and said to be very nourishing. The hide is strong, and so thick, that it has been often known to turn a musket-ball: however, it is soft and pliable, and, when tanned, the leather is extremely light, yet very therefore, the dog has got scent of the elk, which I have seen him do from a long distance, the sportsman allows him, though still in the leash, to draw upon the animal, and follows after as quickly as he is able. When the dog has approached to within a short distance of the elk, he evinces, by his anxiety, that his game is not far distant. The man now proceeds with every deliberation and caution. That his movements may be effected with the greater silence, he generally ties his dog to a tree, who is too well trained to give tongue in the absence of his master, and alone reconnoitres the surrounding country. Thus the man not unfrequently succeeds in getting a view of the elk, either whilst lying down or feeding, and of slaughtering him with his rifle. Much more commonly, nevertheless, the elk, from his exquisite sense of smelling, takes the alarm, and goes off at the top of his speed. It is not difficult to pursue the same elk for a day or two together, as owing to his holding principally to the morasses and low ground in the summer season, his track is in most places perceptible. Hard blowing weather is the best for the purpose, as the noise made among the trees by the wind prevents the elk from hearing the approach of the hunter; the scent is then breast high, and the dog, in consequence, is enabled to take a man in a direct line up to the game. The rutting which commences about the latter end of August, and continues throughout September, is the best time to shoot the elk; season, the exquisite sense of smelling possessed by these animals is then said to be, in some degree, impaired; and from being engaged in their amours, they are the more easy of access. * HUNTING THE ELK IN CANADA.-The methods of hunting the elk in Canada are curious. The first and most simple is, before the lakes and rivers are frozen, multitudes of the natives assemble in their canoes, with which they form a vast crescent, each point touching the shore; whilst another party on the shore surrounds an extensive tract. They are attended by dogs, which are let loose, and press towards the water with loud cries. The animals, alarmed by the noise, fly before the hunters, and plunge into the lake, where they are killed by the people in the canoes, with lances and clubs. Another method requires a greater degree of preparation and art: the hunters inclose a large space with sticks and branches of trees, forming two sides of a triangle. The bottom opens into a second inclosure, which is fast on all sides; at the opening are hung numbers of snares, made of the slips of raw hides. They assemble as before in great troops; and with all kinds of hideous noises drive into the inclosure not only moose, but various other kinds of deer, with which the country abounds. Some, in forcing their way through the narrow pass, are caught in the snares by the neck or horns; whilst those who escape these meet their fate from the arrows of the hunters, directed at them from all quarters. (g) Phil. Trans. vol. ii. p. 436. lasting. The fur is a light grey in some, and blackish in others; and, when viewed through a microscope, appears spongy like a bulrush, and is smaller at the roots and points than in the middle; for this reason it lies very flat and smooth, and though beaten or abused never so much, it always returns to its former state. The horns also are not less useful, being applied to all the purposes for which hartshorn is beneficial. After all, this animal is but very indifferently and confusedly described by travellers, each mixing his account with something false or trivial-often mistaking some other quadruped for the elk, and confounding its history. Thus, some have mistaken it for the rein-deer, which in everything but size it greatly resembles; some have supposed it to be the same with the Tapurette, (g) from which it entirely differs; some have described it as the common red American stag, which scarcely differs from our own; and, lastly, some have confounded it with the bubalus, which is more properly a gazelle of Africa. (g) THE REIN-DEER.-Of all animals of the deer kind, the Rein-deer is the most extraordinary and the most useful. It is a native of the icy regions of the north; and though many attempts have been made to accustom it to a more southern climate, it shortly feels the influence of the change, and in a few months declines and dies. Nature seems to have fited it entirely to answer the necessities of that hardy race of mankind that live near the pole. As these would find it impossible to subsist among their barren, snowy mountains without its aid, so this animal can live only there, where its assistance is most absolutely necessary. From it alone the natives of Lapland and Greenland supply most of their wants; it answers the purposes of a horse, to convey them and their scanty furniture from one mountain to another; it answers the purposes of a cow, in giving milk; and it answers the purposes of the sheep, in furnishing them with a warm, though a homely kind of clothing. From this quadruped alone, therefore, they receive as many advantages as we derive from three of our most useful creatures;-so that Providence does not leave these poor outcasts entirely destitute, but gives them a faithful domestic, more patient and serviceable than any other in nature. The rein-deer resembles the American elk in the fashion of its horns. It is not easy in words to describe these minute differences; nor will the reader, perhaps, have a distinct idea of the similitude, when told that both have browantlers, very large, and hanging over their eyes, palmated towards the top, and bending forward, like a bow. But here the similitude between these two animals ends; for, as the elk is much larger than the stag, so the rein-deer is much smaller. It is lower and stronger built than the stag; its legs are shorter and thicker, and its hoofs much broader than in that animal; its hair is much * HORNS.-In the elk the horns are stemless, or branched from the base; in the reindeer the horns are round, bent back, and palmated at the extremities. In length they are generally two feet eight inches, and from (g) Condamine. tip to tip, two feet five; they weigh nine pounds. It should seem, both from its situation and form, an excellent instrument to remove the snow, under which their favourite moss lies. (g) Dapper, Description de l'Afrique, p. 17. thicker and warmer; its horns much larger in proportion, and branching forward over its eyes; its ears are much larger; its pace is rather a trot than a bounding, and this it can continue for a whole day; its hoofs are cloven and movable, so that it spreads them abroad as it goes, to prevent its sinking in the snow. When it proceeds on a journey, it lays its great horns on its back, while there are two branches which always hang over its forehead, and almost cover its face. One thing seems peculiar to this animal and the eĺk-which is, that as they move along, their hoofs are heard to crack with a pretty loud noise. This arises from their manner of treading; for as they rest upon their cloven hoof, it spreads on the ground, and the two divisions separate from each other; but when they lift it, the divisions close again, and strike against each other with a crack. The female also of the rein-deer has horns, as well as the male,-by which the species is distinguished from all other animals of the deer kind what soever. When the rein-deer first shed their coat of hair, they are brown; but, in proportion as summer advances, their hair begins to grow whitish, until, at last, they are nearly grey. (g) They are, however, always black about the eyes. The neck has long hair, hanging down, and coarser than upon any other part of the body. The feet, just at the insertion of the hoof, are surrounded with a ing of white. The hair in general stands so thick over the whole body, that if one should attempt to separate it, the skin will no where appear uncovered; whenever it falls also, it is not seen to drop from the root, as in other quadrupeds, but seems broken short near the bottom; so that the lower part of the hair is seen growing, while the upper falls away. The rein-deer, as was said, is naturally an inhabitant of the countries bordering on the arctic circle. In Lapland, this animal is converted to the utmost advantage; and some herdsmen of that country are known to possess above a thousand in a single herd.* Lapland is divided into two districts, the mountainous and the woody. The mountainous part of the country is at best barren and bleak, excessively cold, and uninhabitable during the winter; still, however, it is the most desirable part of this frightful region, and is most thickly peopled during the summer. The natives generally reside on the declivity of the mountains, three or four cottages together, and lead a cheerful and a social life. Upon the approach of winter, they are obliged to migrate into the plains below, each bringing down his whole herd, which often amounts to more than a thousand, and leading them where the pasture is in greatest plenty. The woody part of the country is much more desolate and hideous. The whole face of nature there presents a frightful scene of trees without fruit, and plains without verdure. * THE REIN-DEEr in Great BriTAIN. An attempt was made about seven years ago to introduce the rein-deer, upon an extensive scale, in the colder parts of England and Scotland. Many persons will remember Mr. Bullock's exhibition of rein-deer and a Lapland family. Out of two hundred deer, which were brought by him from Norway, nearly every one died. Those that were turned out upon the Pentland Hills, near Edinburgh, a situation which was peculiarly favourable, all died. A few appeared to do well in a park near Dublin. The Duke of Athol had previously placed a herd of rein-deer in the mountains of his estate, but the experiment did not succeed. The circumstance is not to be attributed to the want of proper food, As far as the for the rein-deer moss is found abundantly in Scotland. It grows, too, in many parts of England, particularly on Bagshot Heath.But the same ill success has attended the introduction of the larger species of deer, which belong to the new continent. Several fine species of the Wapeti, an American deer, were turned out into Windsor Park a few years ago: none of them lived more than a year. Whether these trials have failed through a want of proper attention to the peculiar habits of the animal, or that they naturally result from the tenacity with which the deer tribe adhere to their original geographical position, as a law of nature, is a question yet to be decided.—ED. (g) For the greatest part of this description of the rein-deer, I am obliged to Mr. Hoffberg, upon whose authority, being a native of Sweden, and an experienced naturalist, we may confidentially rely. eye can reach, nothing is to be seen, even in the midst of summer, but barren fields, covered only with a moss, almost as white as snow; no grass, no flowery landscapes, only here and there a pine-tree, which may have escaped the frequent conflagrations by which the natives burn down their forests. But what is very extraordinary, as the whole surface of the country is clothed in white, so, on the contrary, the forests seem to the last degree dark and gloomy. While one kind of moss makes the fields look as if they were covered with snow, another kind blackens over all their trees, and even hides their verdure. This moss, however, which deforms the country, serves for its only support, as upon it alone the rein deer can subsist. The inhabitants, who during the summer, lived among the mountains, drive down their herds in winter, and people the plains and woods below. Such of the Laplanders as inhabit the woods and the plains all the year round, live remote from each other, and having been used to solitude, are melancholy, ignorant and helpless. They are much poorer also than the mountaineers, for, while one of those is found to possess a thousand reindeer at a time, none of these are ever known to rear the tenth part of that number. The rein-deer make the riches of this people; and the cold, mountainy parts of the country agree best with its constitution. It is for this reason, therefore, that the mountains of Lapland are prefered to the woods; and that many claim an exclusive right to the tops of hills covered in almost eternal snow. As soon as the summer begins to appear, the Laplander who had fed his rein-deer upon the lower grounds, during the winter, then drives them up to the mountains, and leaves the woody country, and the low pasture, which at that season are truly deplorable. The gnats, bred by the sun's heat, in the marshy bottoms, and the weedy lakes, with which the country abounds more than any other part of the world, are all upon the wing, and fill the whole air, like clouds of dust in a dry windy day. The inhabitants, at that time, are obliged to daub their faces with pitch, mixed with milk, to shield their skins from their depredations. All places are then so greatly infested, that the poor natives can scarce open their mouths without fear of suffocation; the insects enter, from their numbers and minuteness, into the nostrils and the eyes, and do not leave the sufferer a moment at his ease. But they are chiefly enemies to the reindeer the horns of that animal being then in their tender state, and possessed of extreme sensibility, a famished cloud of insects instantly settle upon them, and drive the poor animal almost to distraction. In this extremity, there are but two remedies, to which the quadruped, as well as its master, are obliged to have recourse. The one is, for both to take shelter near their cottage, where a large fire of tree moss is prepared, which filling the whole place with smoke, keeps off the gnat, and thus, by one inconvenience, expels a greater; the other is, to ascend to the highest summit of the mountains, where the air is too thin, and the weather too cold, for the gnats to come. There the rein-deer are seen to continue the whole day, although without food, rather than to venture down into the lower parts, where they can have no defence against their unceasing persecutors. Besides the gnat, there is also a gadfly, that, during the summer season, is no less formidable to them. This insect is bred under their skins, where the egg has been deposited the preceding summer; and it is no sooner produced as a fly, than it again endeavours to deposit its eggs in some place similar to that from whence it came. Whenever, therefore, it appears flying over a herd of rein-deer, it puts the whole body, how numerous soever, into motion; they know their enemy, and do all they can, by tossing their horns, and running among each other, to terrify or avoid it. All their endeavours, however, are too generally without effect; the gadfly is seen to deposit its eggs, which burrowing under the skin, wound it in several places, and often bring on an incurable disorder. In the morning, therefore, as soon as the Lapland herdsman drives his deer FOOD.-The rein-deer feeds also on frogs, snakes, and even on the mountain rat; often pursuing the latter to such a great distance, as not to be able to find its way home again. |