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THE MOOSE OR ELK.

that, in the deer at least, it is the larger cellular hairs which have been added for this purpose (no one can look at them, I think, without seeing how admirably they are adapted for this), and that the horny hairs, whose office may possibly be as much that of a regulator of temperature as of a heating apparatus, are the normal hairs of the animal reduced to the smallest dimensions. If these two kinds of hair have distinct functions, their mode of development may also possess distinctive characters. We see that their roots extend to very different depths in the skin, and although we know that the hair is a mere appendage of the skin, produced by its involution or evolution, it may be that by drawing more of its substance from one layer than from another, the differences in its appearance which we have been considering are produced.” *

Deers' sinews, dried, are esteemed a great food dainty in China, and some other eastern countries. The hoofs grated are also used medicinally to cure wounds.

Some half dozen species of Asiatic deer, according to Dr. Sclater, constitute the Rusine group, of which the Sambur (Cervus Aristotelis) may be taken as the type. Their antlers have but three points, are comparatively short in the beam; but especially in Ceylon these attain an immense thickness. Mr. Bates states that he has killed bucks carrying heads which measured eight inches in circumference at the burrs.

The flesh of the Rusa deer is considered a delicate morsel in Java and Borneo.

The Virginian deer (Cariacus Virginianus) is still found in large numbers in the unsettled parts of North America, and is an animal of great importance to the Indians, who appreciate and cure its flesh for winter provision.

THE MOOSE OR ELK (Cervus Alces, Richardson; Alces Americanus, Baird; Alces machlis, Ogilby), inhabits the northern part of both continents. This deer is in size rather larger than a horse.

* Andrew Murray, Esq., in the "Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal," New Series, April, 1856.

PRODUCTS OF THE MOOSE.

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Its flesh is more relished by the Indians and persons resident in the fur countries, than that of any other animal. It bears a greater resemblance in its flavour to beef than to venison. It is said that

the external fat is soft, like that of a breast of mutton, and when put into a bladder is as fine as marrow. In this it differs from all other species of deer, of which the external fat is hard.

The tough skin of the elk has been put to various uses. In Sweden a regiment was clothed with waistcoats made of this material, which was so thick as to resist a musket ball. When made into breeches, a pair of them among the peasantry of former days, went as a legacy through several generations.

A buck in its grease will weigh as much as 800 lbs., without the offal. When in good condition, the flesh is sweet and tender, and is highly esteemed as an article of food; but should the animal be poor, or have been subject to violent exertion previously to death, the meat is scarcely eatable. The moufle, or loose covering of the nose, is considered by epicures the greatest delicacy of the north-west, contesting the palm with bear's paw, beaver tail, reindeer tongue, buffalo boss, and sheep ribs. The Indians sometimes snare the moose; and in the spring, when the action of the sun has formed a thick crust upon the snow, they drive them into drifts, and spear them in numbers. It is not a gregarious animal, and to hunt it requires more skill than is necessary in the pursuit of either reindeer or buffalo. The moose furnishes an excellent hide for moccassins and snow shoes in America, the best skin is from the bull moose in October, and usually sells for about sixteen shillings.

The uses to which the various parts of the moose are put are many. The hide supplies parchment, leather, lines, and cords; the sinews yield thread and glue; the horns serve for handles to knives and awls, as well as to make spoons of; the shank bones are employed as tools to dress leather with; and with a particular portion of the hair, when dyed, the Indian women embroider garments.

To make leather and parchment, the hide is first divested of the

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USEFUL PRODUCTS OF THE MOOSE.

hair by scraping, and all pieces of raw flesh being cut away, if then washed, stretched, and dried, it become parchment. In converting this into leather a further process of steeping, scraping, rubbing, and smearing with brains has to be gone through, after which it is stretched and dried, and then smoked over a fire of rotten wood, which imparts a lively yellow colour to it. The article is then ready for service. Of parchment, as such, the Chipewyans make little use, but the residents avail themselves of it, in place of glass for windows, for constructing the sides of dog-carioles, and for making glue. The leather is serviceable in a variety of ways, but is principally made up into tents and articles of clothing, and in the fabrication of dog-harnesses and fine cords, wallets, &c. The capotes, gowns, firebags, mittens, moccasins, and trowsers made of it are often richly ornamented with quills and beads, and when new, look very neat and becoming. The best Indian dressers of leather in the Canadian dominion are the Slave Lake Chipewyans and those of the Liard's River.

The lines and cords are of various sizes, the largest being used for sled lines and pack-cords; the smaller answer for lacing snowshoes and other purposes. In order to make sled lines pliant-a very necessary quality when the temperature is 40 deg. or 50 deg. below zero Fahrt.-the cord is first soaked in fat fish liquor, it is then dried in the frost, and afterwards rubbed by hauling it through the eye of an axe; to complete the operation it is well greased, and any hard lumps masticated until they become soft, by which process a line is produced of great strength and pliancy, and which is not liable to crack in the most severe cold.

To obtain thread, the fibres of the sinews are separated and twisted into the required sizes. The moose furnishes the best quality of this article, which is used by the natives to sew both leather and cloth, to make rabbit snares, and to weave into fishing nets. Sinews can be boiled down into an excellent glue or size.

In mounting knives and awls with horn, lead, copper, and iron are used for inlaying, and rather handsome articles are sometimes

produced. The making of spoons, tipping of arrows, carving of fish-hooks, stuffing of dog-collars, and embroidering with hair need no particular comment. [Mr. B. R. Ross, of the Hudson's Bay Company, in the "Technologist," vol. ii., p. 260].

THE REINDEER (Tarandus arcticus, Rich.), occupies a band of country fringing the polar zone in Northern Europe and Asia.

It replaces the horse and the ox in a climate where these animals could not be utilised. In the Russian empire there are computed to be about one million, of which 680,000 are in Europe, chiefly in the governments of Archangel, Vologda, and Perm. In Siberia there are more than 300,000. The Koraks of Eastern Siberia who are nomads, and live in skin tents like the Tongouses, have immense herds of reindeer, some tribes own not less than 15,000. These supply their food, clothing, and means of transport. Their gut forms an excellent twine, and their bones serve to make various tools and arms, and enter into the formation of their sledges and vehicles which are often of elegant construction. The pride of the Laplanders is also to have large herds of reindeer for their sledges. They drink their milk and make cheese of it; they clothe themselves with the skins, and eat their flesh, which is good.