Musquash

“ Musquash, like all animals in cold countries, are at their best condition in the autumn. Let my hunter friend take one of the above despised animals, select a nice mixed flesh and fat one, clean it as you would a beaver, split it up the front, impale it on a sharp pointed stick, introduce the point near the root of the tail, and bring it up to the inside of the head. Plant your screwer in front of your camp fire, giving it an occasional twist, while getting your tea and other things ready. When done stand it back from the excessive heat for a short while to cool and harden. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A great many musquash have been killed within a week. One says a cartload have been killed in Assabet. Perhaps a dozen gunners have been out in this town every day. They get a shilling apiece for their skins. One man getting musquash and one mink earned five or six dollars the other day. ”

“ The Musquashes is a small Beast that lives in shallow ponds, where they build them houses of earth and sticks in shape like mole-hills, and feed upon Calamus Aromaticus: in May they scent very strong of Muske; their furr is of no great esteem; their stones wrapt up in Cotten-wool will continue a long time, and are good to lay amongst cloths to give them a grateful smell. ”

“ During my many years as a fur trader, part of the time has been passed on the frontier where opposition is keen and hunters, both Indians and whites, are careless in preparing their peltries for market. As long as they are dried in a way to keep, is all sufficient for them. Musquash will be simply drawn over a bent willow and dried in the blazing sun or near the camp fire. The little animal is hastily skinned and considerable fat is left on the skin, which, by being subjected to a quick and great heat, penetrates the skin and it is consequently grease burnt. ”

“ Value 10s. to 130s.
Musquash or Musk-Rat, Brown and Black Russian.—Size 12 × 8 in. A very prolific rodent of the amphibious class obtained from Canada and the United States, similar in habit to the English vole, with a fairly thick and even brown underwool and rather strong top dark hair of medium density. It is a very useful fur for men’s coat linings and ladies’ driving or motoring coats, being warm, durable and not too heavy. If the colour were less motley and the joins between the skins could be made less noticeable, it would be largely in demand for stoles, ties and muffs. ”

“ They occasionally eat fish, but in general feed very cleanly, and when fat are good eating. They are easily tamed and soon grow fond of their owner. They are very cleanly and playful, and 'smell exceedingly pleasant of musk', but their resemblance to the rat is so great that few are partial to them, though of course they are much larger in size, and have webbed hind feet and a flat scaly tail. In Canadian regions farther south the musquash no longer builds on the ice, but in swamps, where it raises heaps of mud like islands in the surrounding water. ”

“ Forty miles a day from trap to trap is a hard tramp on snowshoes when the wind sweeps down from the Arctic and the silence can be felt. The whole thing is a Louisiana lottery. The very next trap may hold a silver-fox that spells kudos for a year round the winter camp-fires and a trade valuation of one hundred dollars from the tempting stores of Mr. Harris. As long as the red fox brings forth her cubs to play in the starlight and marten and musquash increase after their kind, just so long will there be trappers and sons of trappers setting out from Fond du Lac. ”

“ Others, as the rabbits, field-mice, and squirrels, are more or less active and forage freely on whatever they can find, eating many things which in summer they would spurn with scorn. To this class belongs that intelligent but injurious animal the musquash or muskrat. Those which inhabit the rivers and larger streams live in burrows dug deep beneath the banks, but those inhabiting sluggish streams and ponds usually construct a conical winter house about three feet in diameter and from two to three feet in height. ”

“ The flesh of them is none of the best meate, but their Oyle is of rare use for many things. Secondly, Martins, a good furre for their bignesse: Thirdly, Musquashes, which be much like a Beaver for shape, but nothing neare so bigge; the Male hath two stones which smell as sweete as Muske, and being killed in Winter, never lose their sweete smell: These skinnes are no bigger than a Coney-skinne, yet are sold for five shillings a peece, being sent for Tokens into England. One good skinne will perfume a whole house-full of cloathes, if it be right and good. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 present range of the musk-ox is from Fort Rae north to the Arctic and between the meridians of 86° and 125°. As it is the most inaccessible game in the world, there would seem to be no immediate fear of its being hunted to extinction. Toothed like a sheep, footed like an ox, tailed like a bear, and maned like a horse, the musk-ox does not circle up wind as the moose and caribou do, but travels in any direction he sees fit. Each little herd of ten or fifteen bunches up, tails to the middle and horns outside, to meet a common danger. ”

“ In secret shallow bays the young broods are plashing about, learning to swim and dive and hide in safety. The plunge of the fish-hawk comes up from the pools. A noisy kingfisher rattles about from tree to stump, like a restless busy-body. The hum of insects fills the air with a drowsy murmur. Now a deer steps daintily down the point, and looks, and listens, and drinks. A great moose wades awkwardly out to plunge his head under and pull away at the lily roots. ”

“ As a ship by its cable, so commonly the Mussel, by its bissus or beard, is made fast to its anchorage-ground, be it pebbly or sandy beach, or jutting rock. Sometimes, however, the mollusk travels, and this is how it manages to do so; it has a stout fleshy foot, in shape something like that of a chubby child, and this it can advance about two inches beyond the edge of the shell, then fixing the point of it to a piece of rock or any other body, and contracting it, the shell is drawn onward, and sure, though slow, progress is made in any desired direction. ”

“ See that musk-rat, how boldly he plunges into the stream, and, with his oar-like tail, stems the current till he gains in safety the sedges on the other side.
What gurgling sound is that?—it attracts the practised ear of the old hunter. What is that object which floats so steadily down the middle of the stream, and leaves so bright a line in its wake?—it is a noble stag. Look at the broad chest with which he breasts the water so gallantly; see how proudly he carries his antlered head! ”

“ 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. ”

“ The foot of the Mussel appears to be firmly strapped on, as it were, to certain transverse muscles, by a contraction of which the animal closes its shell with surprising force. This strap, composed of a powerful tendon which passes under the adductor muscles, is attached at either end to the base of the foot. Thus we account for the remarkable strength which is evidently seated in the foot, and makes it of so much importance to the animal. ”

“ The Pinna, as the marine Mussel is called, has a foot which is cylindrical in shape, and has at the bottom a round tendon, almost as long as itself, the use of which appears to be to gather in and retain the numerous threads with which, when inhabiting the shores of tempestuous seas, it lashes itself fast to the fixed objects around; these threads are fastened at various points, and then drawn tight by the animal, whose instinct teaches it that its brittle shell would soon be broken in pieces, if suffered to roll hither and thither at the mercy of the waves. ”

“ Talk about musquitoes in the States as being numerous and troublesome! Why no man who has not visited the arctic shores in the months of July and August can have a good idea of these Liliputian elephants. In the States the very hum of a musquito is enough to set any one upon his guard. How many a poor soul there has been kept in a state of torment all night by the presence of only two or three musquitoes! ”

“ To see a Mussel 'flit,' is a sight one may often watch and wait for without success. On the other hand, when least expected, the self-willed mollusc may commence operations. When about to take up a new home, the animal shaves off its beard entirely, or in more scientific language, 'rejects its byssus' altogether. ”

“ These Naidæ have not a bissus like the Marine Mussels, they are therefore never attached to one object; they use their foot as a propeller in traversing the muddy floor of the pond or river, and they have a very funny way of getting along indeed; first, they open the valves of the shell, put out the foot, and after some little hard work, manage to set themselves up on edge ”

“ They are extremely voracious, feeding on fish, reptiles, or any animal substance that falls in their way. They take the hook readily, whatever may be the bait, though most attracted by pieces of fish; in this way many are caught for the market. It is, however, necessary to have strong hooks and tackle, otherwise they would be broken, for the animal puts forth great strength in his struggles to escape, both with his firm jaws and by bringing his anterior extremities across the line. When caught they always give out an odour of musk, which in very old animals is sometimes disagreeably strong. ”

“ The hairs of the moustaches are long, of a black colour, and grayish at the apex.
Habitat, Chile.
40The most conspicuous characters of the present species consist in the immense length of the tail, and the great size of the hinder feet. [19] It is about equal in size to Mus Musculus; its form, however, is somewhat stouter; in colour it is much paler and brighter. The head is larger in proportion; the ears are smaller, and more densely clothed with hair; the fore feet are rather larger, and the fleshy tubercle on the under side of the wrist is also larger. ”

“ The young Mussels spread themselves all round the pockets, fixing themselves by means of those filaments which naturalists designate by the name of byssus. In proportion as they grow and become crowded together [186] within the pockets, they are cleared out and distributed over other poles lying somewhat nearer to the shore, whilst the full-grown Mussels which are fit for sale are planted on the bouchots nearest the shore. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I bore in mind the words of Reaumur, who says, 'The Mussel never spins more than four or five threads in the twenty-four hours.' Aware that no time must be lost, though still afraid to disturb the mollusc lest it might suspend its labours, I instantly detached my specimen, and again turned its shell round so as to bring the opening of the valves against the face of the glass. ”