Muskeg

“ However, even the worst muskeg must have an end, and at last we and our weary horses pulled out on the other side, trotted happily through a bit of virgin forest, and cheered the guide when he pointed ahead to our camping ground, an ideal spot in a clearing beside the East Branch of the Moose River. [Pg 221] We had made twenty miles from Berg Lake, pretty good going in such a country, a third of the journey being through heavy muskeg ”

“ Evidently the beautiful thick coat of the woodland bisons allows them to laugh at the mosquito, for we come upon them in an almost impenetrable mosquito-infested muskeg. An untoward frost is more to be feared by these great brutes than the attacks of any insect. Thirty-eight years ago a heavy rainfall in the winter soaked the snow and formed a subsequent ice-crust which prevented them from grazing, and as they do not browse on the branches of trees, the herd was almost exterminated. ”

“ As we bump along in the muskeg and the creatures surround us in a smother, he ventures to assert that "the life of the adult insect is very short" and that it is the female who stings. The Doctor is a born instructor. We learn that "the natural food of the mosquito is a drop or two of the juice of a plant." We suspect the Doctor of fagging up on "Mosquito" out of some convent dictionary while we have been at Fond du Lac. He is like the parson introduced by his friend of the cloth. ”

“ They are of gigantic dimension, and extremely given to cannibalism. The Muskegoes, who inhabit the low and cheerless swamps on the borders of Hudson’s Bay, are themselves reproached by other tribes as cannibals, are said to live in constant fear of the Weendegoag. ”

“ Hearne describes it as being remarkably good when used to thicken broth; but some other pioneers complained that it made them and their Indians seriously ill. Another lichen, "reindeer moss" (Cladina) , is also eaten by men as well as deer. The muskegs, or bogs and marshes, produce in the summertime a very rapid growth of grass (as well as breeding swarms of mosquitoes!) , and thus furnish food for the geese and swans which throng them between June and October. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Get up that combination—a hot day, a dank, humid, and suffocating greenhouse given up to the musk-plant, and you will have the full effect of only one full-blown musky. The odour of the plant, heavy when close, is delicate when diffused; the scent of the musk-rat, on the other hand, is heavy when diffused, and insupportable when near. The marvellous diffusibility of this odour is illustrated in many ways. It has long been maintained that the musk-rat has only to pass over a closely corked bottle of wine to destroy its contents. ”

“ Doughnuts, ex-barkeepers, and civilization at one end of the lake, and here were muskrat-skins, trappers, and the primeval. Two hunters of moose, in default of their fern-horned, blubber-lipped game, had condescended to muskrat, and were making the lower end of Chesuncook fragrant with muskiness.
It is surprising how hospitable and comrade a creature is man. The trappers of muskrats were charmingly brotherly. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The purpose of the musky odour is to enable the animals to find each other in heavy storms and during the long, dark Arctic nights. The flesh of the Musk Ox is excellent food, consequently they are hunted assiduously by the Eskimos with their wolf dogs. Their skins are highly desirable for the making of clothing and robes, and the flesh is eaten raw and sometimes cooked. When pursued by wolves, the old Musk Oxen put the babies in the centre, form a circle around them and face outward with bloodshot eyes and menacing horns. When aroused, they are a formidable company to face. ”

“ GENUS MOSCHUS—THE MUSK DEER.
Canines in both sexes, very long and slender in the male; no horns; feet much cloven, with large false hoofs that touch the ground; the medium metacarpals fused into a solid cannon bone; in the skull the intermaxillaries join the nasals; hinder part of tarsus hairy; fur thick, elastic, and brittle; muffle large; no eye, feet, or groin-pits; a large gland or præputial bag under the stomach in the males, which contains the secretion known in commerce as "musk." ”

“ The short summer, with its inevitable accompaniment of tormenting mosquitoes, is burning hot, and the winter, stretching sometimes over seven months of the year, is intensely cold, and both these extremes render it a trying climate for consumptive patients. The air, however, is pure, clear, and bracing, and nervous and dyspeptic invalids soon lose many of their unpleasant sensations. A gentleman who formed one of our little colony when we came out in 1871, has to thank the air of Muskoka for the entire [270] renovation of his health. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Dried musk ox meat and strips of musk fat made a steady diet. Moulded tallow served as fuel in a crescent-shaped disk of tin, in which carefully prepared moss was crushed and arranged as a wick. Over this primitive fire we managed to melt enough ice to quench thirst, and also to make an occasional pot of broth as a luxury. While the drink was liquefying, the chill of the snow igloo was also moderated, and we crept into the bags of musk ox skins, where agreeable repose and home dreams made us forget the cry of the stomach and the torment of the cold. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In assorting muskrats, buyers usually pay more attention to size and primeness of pelt than they do to the fur, because it is generally conceded that the average run of 'rat fur is good. Nature endows the muskrat with a dense coat of fur, which, in fact, is a necessity to further its welfare in the icy waters in which it lives. ”

“ What is the secret of the musk-rat's survival while the strong creatures of the chase like buffalo and timber-wolf have been almost exterminated? In the first place, settlers can't farm swamps; so the musk-rat thrives just as well in the swamps of New Jersey to-day as when the first white hunter set foot in America. Then musquash lives as heartily on owls and frogs and snakes as on water mussels and lily-pads. If one sort of food fails, the musk-rat has as omnivorous powers of digestion as the bear and changes his diet. Then he can hide as well in water as on land. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The vast chains of rivers and lakes in Canada make that country the favourite home of the musk-rat. This creature lives upon roots of aquatic plants, freshwater-mussels, and stems of juicy herbs. Besides making the domed houses of grass, reeds, and mud, it also burrows in the banks of streams. There it makes rather an elaborate home, with numerous passages leading to the water. The odour of musk is very strong even in the skin. The tail is narrow and almost naked. This species is the largest of the vole group. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It is necessary that every musketeer should know how to carry his match dry in moist or rainy weather, that is, in his pocket or in his hat, by putting the lighted match between his head and hat, or by some other means to guard it from the weather. The musketeer should also have a little tin tube, about a foot long, big enough to admit a match, and pierced full of little holes, that he may not be discovered by his match when he stands sentinel or is gone on any expedition. ”

“ The musketoes are generally very troublesome; but as they are only generated in stagnant and putrid water, it is easy to perceive that this evil is not without a remedy; because by draining the marshes, and by cultivating the land, the cause which produces them will in a great measure be removed. ”

“ The animal instincts of the muskrat are not as keenly developed as those of the designing fox or the wary mink. Unlike the beaver and otter, it is not afraid of civilization and thrives in the most thickly settled sections.
Nature in its entirety is wonderful. It is not unlike a vast panorama of charm and beauty. Here we find the ancient law — the survival of the fittest — a reality. Many people surmise the muskrat to be very uninteresting. ”

“ Most mammals have certain portions of the skin specially modified and provided with glands secreting odorous and fatty substances characteristic of the particular species. The special gland of the musk-deer, which has made the animal so well known, and has proved the cause of unremitting persecution to its possessor, is found in the male only, and is a sac about the size of a small orange, situated beneath the skin of the abdomen, the orifice being immediately in front of the preputial aperture. ”

“ The purest musk, and that which is the most sought after, even by the Chinese themselves, is that which the animal deposits upon trees or stones, against which he rubs himself when the quantity becomes too great, or renders the pouch uneasy. That which is found in the bag is seldom so good, because it is not fully ripe, or because perhaps it is only in their rutting season that it acquires all its strength and smell ”

“ I am peculiarly sensitive to smells, and dislike that of musk in particular, yet I have no objection to a musk-rat running about my room quietly if I do not startle him. I never allow one to be killed, and encourage their presence in the house, for I think the temporary inconvenience of a whiff of musk is amply repaid by the destruction of the numerous objectionable insects which lurk in the corners of Indian houses. The notion that they do damage by gnawing is an erroneous one, the mischief done by mice and rats being frequently laid to their charge ”

“ It is porous enough in spots to give them air for breathing but does{221} not let the cold wind enter. It is as snug and safe a place as any one could devise. An enemy must break through from without and long before he can smash the frozen walls Mussascus has slipped into the water and gone his way beneath the ice, first to another tepee, or if driven from that on again to his burrows in the hard bank a thousand feet away.
Bending my ear close to the nearest lodge I rapped sharply on the rough wall and listened. There was no sound. ”

“ In the early autumn when the ice is thin and clear you may capture Mussascus by first driving him from his lodge, then following him as he swims, a silvery streak beneath the ice, till he makes that telltale bubble. Then go up and hit the ice sharply over the bubble and you drive the little fellow away from his own breath and drown him. But you would be unable to play any such mean trick as this along the Ponkapoag bog edge now, for the muskrats are abundantly provided for, and I believe they did it themselves.{226} Here and there along by their tepees you find open breathing holes. ”