Musk

“ Then, for some unknown reason, that Musk-ox took it into his head to travel fast away from us, not even stopping to graze; he would soon have been over a rocky ridge. I nodded to Preble. His rifle rang; the bull wheeled sharp about with an angry snort and came toward us. His head was up, his eye blazing, and he looked like a South African Buffalo and a Prairie Bison combined, and seemed to get bigger at every moment. ”

“ Running to the spot where the head had been I found a beautiful brown-gray animal lying behind a bush. It was no larger than a half-grown fawn, but on either side of its mouth two daggerlike tusks projected, slender, sharp and ivory white. It was a musk deer—the first living, wild one I had ever seen. Even before I touched the body I inhaled a heavy, not unpleasant, odor of musk and discovered the gland upon the abdomen. It was three inches long and two inches wide, but all the hair on the rump and belly was strongly impregnated with the odor. ”

“ And they also esteem it in these parts as very fine, because the merchants through whose hands it passes adulterate it still further. The real musk is so strong that on putting it to the nostrils it causes the blood to issue. In this kingdom there are many elephants, horses and men devoted to war: and it is a country well supplied with provisions. ”

“ The musk from Boutan, Tonquin, and Thibet, is most esteemed, that from Bengal is inferior, and from Russia is of still lower quality. The strength and the quantity produced by a single animal varies with the season of the year and the age of the animal. A single musk pod usually contains from two to three drachms of grain musk. Musk is imported into England from China, in caddies of from 50 to 100 ounces each. When adulterated with the animal's blood, which is often the case, it forms into lumps or clots; it is sometimes also mixed with a dark, friable earth. ”

“ The musk-ox, as his name implies, throws out a strong odour of musk,—with which, indeed, his very flesh is impregnated, so that the scent is communicated to the knife used in cutting up the animal. Not the less is he regarded as a valuable booty by the Indians and the Eskimos, who hunt him eagerly. He wanders in small troops over the rocky prairies which extend to the north of the great lakes of North America. He is a fierce-tempered animal, and in defence of his female will fight desperately. ”

“ When I stretch myself or drop my hand on the thick, black felt of the musk-ox robes in my study, the touch of them conjures up many a vivid picture, and I have a more than friendly feeling for those strange, black denizens of the highest North. ”

“ This brief account of the deer of the world closes with the Musk-deer, which differ from almost all others of their kind—the Chinese water-deer being the sole exception—in the absence of antlers. In place of these defensive and offensive weapons, nature has provided the musk-deer with long canine tusks, projecting downwards from the upper jaw. The musk, from which these curious deer take their name, is secreted during the rutting-season—in the male only—in a pouch or gland contained in the skin of the stomach. ”

“ The flesh of the musk-ox noways resembles that of the Western buffalo, but is more like that of the moose or elk; and the fat is of a clear white, slightly tinged with a light azure. The calves and young heifers are good eating; but the flesh of the bulls both smells and tastes so strong of musk, as to render it very disagreeable: even the knife that cuts the flesh of an old bull will smell so strong of musk, that nothing but scouring the blade quite bright can remove it, and the handle will retain the scent for a long time. ”

“ BEAVER RAT.
“Musk-rat, Musquash, and Ondatra are other names given to them. They have, you see, webbed feet and flattened tails, and we shall find that they carry two small glands containing the scented substance called musk. The sooner we strip off the skins the better, they will be useful for making caps.”
We went back to the house, and met Fritz and Jack just returned from their excursion, reporting that no trace of serpents, great or small, had been met with. ”

“ There were many rooms, musty and mice-ridden, and now only two old people to inhabit them. Musk had driven all his sons from home, thus doing his country an unwitting service, for there was the stuff that knits an empire in the blood. ”

“ Sir John Chardin [243] says, Musk is also produced in Persia from an Impostume in the Body of a Beast, that resembles a Goat, and grows near the Navel, and is better than that of China. The Scent of it, adds he, is so strong, that it many times kills those who hunt the Beast, when they first open the Bag, except they stop their Mouths and Noses with Linnen: ’Tis easily counterfeited, and the best way to try it, is by drawing a Thread, dipt in the Juice of Garlick, thro’ the Bag with a Needle; and if the Garlick loses its Scent, the Musk is good. ”

“ The musk ox of Jones Sound, unlike his brother farther north, is every ready for battle. He is often compelled to meet the bear and the wolf in vicious contests, and his tactics are as thoroughly developed as his emergencies require. Seldom does he fall the victim of his enemies. ”

“ The musk-ox lives mostly in herds of a score or more, and, contrary to what we would naturally suppose, it runs with great speed, and climbs rocky hills with facility. The flesh of the young animals is very good, but that of the older ones is too strongly impregnated with musk to be palatable to white men, although the Indians and Esquimaux may not seriously object to it. ”

“ THE Musk Ox is strictly an Arctic animal and is not to be met with below the circle. The northern part of Greenland and Grantland, the Barren Grounds east of Mackenzie River, and the Arctic Islands, north of Hudson Bay, is the home of our musky friend. He is not handsome, but is majestic in appearance, measuring six and one-half feet long and four and one-half feet high. ”

“ Carpenter states, in his "Comparative Physiology," that a grain of musk has been kept freely exposed to the air of a room, of which the door and window were constantly open, for ten years, during all which time the air, though constantly changed, was completely impregnated with the odor of musk, and yet at the end of that time the particle was found not to have sensibly diminished in weight. ”

“ The people are Idolaters and an evil generation, holding it no sin to rob and maltreat: in fact, they are the greatest brigands on earth. They live by the chase, as well as on their cattle and the fruits of the earth.
I should tell you also that in this country there are many of the animals that produce musk, which are called in the Tartar language Gudderi. Those rascals have great numbers of large and fine dogs, which are of great service in catching the musk-beasts, and so they procure great abundance of musk. They have none of the Great Kaan’s paper money, but use salt instead of money. ”

“ A full-grown musk-ox measures about 8 feet in length, inclusive of the short tail, and is 3 feet, 8 or 9 inches in height at the shoulders. The thick-set, shaggy body is supported on short stout legs, and the feet are broad, to serve both as scrapers in clearing away the snow from the moss and herbage on which it lives and in climbing ice-covered slopes. ”

“ Its flesh is most excellent food. From its peculiar, yapping cry, many times repeated, it is often called the Barking Deer. It breeds readily in captivity, and its bright fawn color attracts to it much attention.
The Musk Deer, (Moschus moschiferus) , of northern India, Tibet and Southern China is the creature which produces the well-known musk perfume of commerce. The product is secreted by the male in the “rutting” season. This species is one of the smallest of the true deer. ”

“ The musk-deer is a forest-loving animal, keeping much to one locality. It bounds with amazing agility over the steepest ground, and is wonderfully sure-footed over the most rocky hills. It ruts in winter, produces one or two young, which are driven off in about six weeks' time by the mother to shift for themselves. They begin to produce at an early age—within a year. ”

“ Apparently the musk-ox (Ovibos moschatus) has little or no near relationship to either the oxen or the sheep; and it is not improbable that its affinities are with the Asiatic takin (Budorcas) and the extinct European Criotherium of the Pliocene of Samos. The musky odour from which the animal takes its name does not appear to be due to the secretion of any gland.
In height a bull musk-ox stands about 5 ft. at the shoulder. The head is large and broad. The horns in old males have extremely broad bases, meeting in the middle line, and covering the brow and crown of the head. ”

“ There are men in Thibet who make it their business to collect this species of musk, which they preserve in bladders, and which, having ripened, naturally surpasses all others in goodness, just as ripe fruit exceeds in flavour that which is pulled green. There is another way of procuring musk, either by ensnaring the animals, or shooting them with arrows; but the hunters often cut out the bags before the musk is ripe or fully elaborated, in which case, the musk at first has a bad scent, till the humour thickens, after which it turns to good musk, though this sometimes takes a long while. ”

“ The following representation of the head is from a specimen in the British Museum.
[Pg 115]
THE MUSK OX. Bos Moschatus.
The Musk-ox, in its external appearance, more nearly resembles the Yak of Thibet than any other member of the Bos genus; and they both inhabit mountainous districts near regions of perpetual snow.
The horns of the Musk Bull are remarkably broad at their bases, which are closely united; they bend down on each side of the head, with an outward curve turning upwards towards their ends, which taper to a sharp point. ”

“ Artificial musk, for example, is one thousand times stronger than natural musk, Parker tells us. Deite, on the other hand, says that the smell of artificial musk is not equal to that of the natural ! Indeed, according to this authority, although synthetic perfumes play an important part in the concocting of scents, there are only a few of them which can be used instead of the natural product. What happens is that the artificial and the natural are generally used in combination. ”

“ Curious Method of capturing Musk-rats.—The American Sportsman describes the ingenious method followed by trappers in catching musk-rats: These animals often travel great distances under ice. In their winter excursions to their feeding-grounds they take in breath at starting, and remain under water as long as they can. ”

“ No Spanish bull of the pampas, no buffalo of the plains, has either the slant of horn or the intelligence to gore its enemies as has this inoffensive-looking bull of the ice world. The intelligence, indeed, is an [Pg 382] important factor, for after watching musk oxen for a time under varied conditions, one comes to admire their almost human intellect as well as their superhuman power of delivering self-made force. ”

“ Camphor has various uses—as in fire-works, &c.; it is an excellent preservative of animal and vegetable bodies, as it resists worms and other insects. In the courts of Eastern princes it is burnt at night with wax. Its principal use with us is in medicine.
Preservative, a preventive of decay.
What is Musk?
A dry, friable substance of a dark color, taken from a little bag under the belly of a small animal called the Thibet Musk, which is a native of the Indies, Tonquin, and China. It inhabits the woods and forests, where the natives hunt it down. ”

“ Artificial musk is, doubtless, a more powerful medicine than the natural, and has been successfully prescribed by Hufeland, in the epidemic chin-cough, as well as other nervous and spasmodic affections. ”

“ They slope downward at the sides, and then curve forward and outward, at the same time tapering to a sharp point, which renders them efficient weapons. These characteristics, although intermediate between those of the sheep and the ox, are more strongly inclined to the former. In reality, however, the musk-ox is more goat-like than sheep-like, as is indicated by its covering of hair, its short sturdy legs, the cannon-bone being remarkably short, and its ability as a climber. ”

“ The Musk ox gave the hunters some sport, and Doctor Moss records that all the animals met with, though presumably they had never seen man before, were afraid of the party, thus contradicting the popular notion that animals which have never seen man are not afraid of him. ”

“ Musk-deer are hardy, solitary and retiring animals, chiefly nocturnal in habits, and almost always found alone, rarely in pairs and never in herds. They are exceedingly active and surefooted, having perhaps no equal in traversing rocks and precipitous ground ”

“ No man in the hot regions of America is ignorant that this carnivorous reptile, covered with a buckler of hard and dry scales, is extremely sensitive in the only parts of his body which are soft and unprotected, such as the eyes, the hollow underneath the shoulders, the nostrils, and beneath the lower jaw, where there are two glands of musk. ”

“ Musk-oxen are gregarious in habit, assembling in herds of twenty or thirty head, or sometimes eighty or a hundred, in which there are seldom more than two or three full-grown males. They run with considerable speed, notwithstanding the shortness of their legs. ”

“ Muscovite, mus′co-vīt, n. a native or an inhabitant of Moscow, or of Russia: the desman or Muscovitic rat: (min.) potash mica, a silicate of alumina and potash, yellowish, brownish, or greenish, with pearly or almost metallic lustre, its thin transparent plates still used as glass—also Muscovy glass.—adj. of or pertaining to Moscow or to Russia—also Muscovit′ic.—n. Mus′covy-duck (see Musk) .
Muscular, mus′kū-lar, adj. pertaining to a muscle: consisting of muscles: having strong muscles: brawny: strong: vigorous.—n. Muscular′ity, state of being muscular.—adv. ”