moose,
was known to classical antiquity as a strange and ungainly beast of the
far north; especially as an inhabitant of the great Teutoborgian Forest,
which spread across Germany from the Rhine to the Danube. The half
mythical character which has always clung to this animal is well
illustrated in the following quotation from Pliny's Natural History,
Book 8, chapter 16:

"There is also the achlis, which is produced in the island of
Scandinavia. It has never been seen in this city, although we have had
descriptions of it from many persons; it is not unlike the elk, but has
no joints in the hind leg. Hence it never lies down, but reclines
against a tree while it sleeps; it can only be taken by previously
cutting into the tree, and thus laying a trap for it, as, otherwise, it
would escape through its swiftness. Its upper lip is so extremely large,
for which reason it is obliged to go backwards when grazing; otherwise
by moving onwards, the lip would get doubled up." Pliny's achlis and
elk were the same animal.

The strange stiffness of joint and general ungainliness of the elk,
however, were matters of such general observation as to apparently have
become embodied in the German name _eland_, sufferer. Curiously
enough this name _eland_ was taken by the Dutch to South Africa,
and there applied to the largest and handsomest of the bovine antelopes,
_Oreas canna_.

In mediaeval times there are many references in hunting tales to the elk,
notably in the passage in the Nibelungen Lied describing Siegfried's
great hunt on the upper Rhine, in which he killed an elk. Among the
animals slain by the hero is the "schelk," described as a powerful and
dangerous beast. This name has been a stumbling block to scholars for
years, and opinions vary as to whether it was a wild stallion--at all
times a savage animal--or a lone survivor of the Megaceros, or Irish
elk. In this connection it may be well to remark that the Irish elk and
the true elk were not closely related beyond the fact that both were
members of the deer family. The Irish elk, which was common in Europe
throughout the glacial and post-glacial periods, living down nearly or
quite to the historic period, was nothing more than a gigantic fallow
deer.

The old world elk is still found in some of the large game preserves of
eastern Germany, where the Emperor, with his somewhat remarkable ideas
of sportsmanship, annually adds several to his list of slaughtered
game. They are