Muzhik

“ Each man knew his place.
The one lamp in the hut burned dimly and smoked. When any worker rose and passed the lamp a black shadow fell on the window, and the bright moonlight shone in. Old Osip related slowly how the peasants lived before the Emancipation; how in these same villages where all to-day lived penuriously there were great shooting parties, and on such days the muzhiks were treated to vodka without end; how whole trains of carts with game for the young squire were hurried off to Moscow ”

“ The Muschir who presides is affable, and regales us with sweetmeats, pipes, and sherbet.
The prince enters, followed by the bearer of the kalāat. We all stand up, the royal firman or order is read by the Muschir. The kalāat, a Cashmere shawl-coat worth some eighty pounds, and trimmed with rich furs, having a string of big pearls and a bored but uncut emerald attached to the top button, is put on by the prince amid acclamations, being handed to him by the bearer. Then a jewelled wand or rod of office some four feet long is handed by the Muschir to the Kawam, or mayor of Shiraz ”

“ J⸺ in a call he made upon the Muschir, four conical ices, the size and shape of an ordinary sugar-loaf, were placed in handsome Chinese porcelain basins before each of us. In fact the cheapness of provisions generally causes among the well-to-do a lavishness and profusion (not to call it waste) unknown in Europe.
The Muschir has a “yakhjal,” or place for the making and collecting and storing ice, in an open plain some six miles [241] from the town at the side of the Ispahan road. The earth is dug out to a depth of two feet ”

“ That muskeg is only one of thousands, when you go seventy miles north of the Saskatchewan, sixty miles east of Athabasca Lake. That muskeg and its like, covering an area two-thirds of all Europe, is the home of all the little furs, mink and muskrat and fisher and otter and rabbit and ermine, the furs that clothe—not princes and millionaire, who buy silver fox and sea otter—but you and me and the rest of us whose object is to keep warm, not to show how much we can spend. ”

“ At Karachi I stored much useless kit, motor cycle, and spare saddlery, and notwithstanding a heavy bout of malaria just before, left for service fit and well equipped and with as excellent a horse as one could wish for. We sailed in the tiny mail boat Dwarka for Muscat, Bushire, Basra.
Muscat is a mere safety valve of Satan in his sparest wilderness, a lonely patch of white buildings completely shut in by awful mountains, rocks that in remote ages seem to have frowned themselves into the most fearful convulsions. ”

“ 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 Muharram is celebrated throughout the Dekhan and Malwa, with greater enthusiasm than in other parts of India. Grand preparations are made in every town on the occasion, as if for a festival of rejoicing, rather than of observing the rites of mourning, as they ought. The observance of this custom has so strong a hold on the mind of the commonalty of the Mussulmans that they believe Muhammadanism to depend merely on keeping the memory of the imáms in the above manner."—Mīr Shahāmat 'Ali, in J. R. As. Soc. xiii. 369. We find no literary quotation to exemplify the phrase as it stands. ”

“ The flesh of the animal is eaten by the Chinese, and in Siberia by both Tartars and Russians, but that of the males has a strong musk flavour.
The “immense number” of these animals that existed in the Himalayan countries may be conceived from Tavernier’s statement, that on one visit to Patna, then the great Indian mart for this article, he purchased 7673 pods of musk. These presumably came by way of Nepal; but musk pods of the highest class were also imported from Khotan viâ Yarkand and Leh, and the lowest price such a pod fetched at Yarkand was 250 tankas, or upwards of 4l. ”

“ Good for nothing!" exclaimed the Persian.
"Listen before you say so. In this mushak is water of such wonderful virtue, that if but a few drops fall on good soil, a spring of surpassing sweetness bursts forth, sometimes spreading and spreading: till first a brook; then a wide stream; then a glorious river—appears. The most learned cannot calculate, nor ages on ages limit, the effects of a few living drops from that blessed mushak!"
The Persian and Afghan uttered exclamations of surprise; but a thoughtful inquiring look was on the face of the aged Sikh. ”

“ In remembrance of this privation of the sufferers at Kraabaallah, every good Mussulmaun, at Mahurrum, distributes sherbet in abundance, to all persons who choose to accept this their favourite beverage (sugar and water, with a little rosewater, or kurah, [31] to flavour it) ; and some charitable females expend large sums in milk, to be distributed in the public streets; for these purposes, there are neat little huts of sirrakee [32] (a reed, or grass, resembling bright straw) erected by the road side of the Mussulmauns' houses ”

“ 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 ”

“ 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. ”

“ Though fairly omnivorous in his tastes, the big muskrat, like all his tribe, was so content with his lilies, flag-root, and clams, that he was not generally regarded as a foe by the birds and other small people of the wilderness. He was too well fed to be a keen hunter.
Having learned (and taught his fellows) to avoid muskrat-traps, the big muskrat enjoyed his lazy summer life on Bitter Creek with a care-free spirit that is permitted to few, indeed, of the furtive kindred of the wild. There was no mink, as we have seen, to beware of ”

“ And whenever I have found out anything about Upweekis it has generally come unexpectedly, as most good things do.
Once the chance came as I was watching a muskrat at his supper. It was twilight in the woods. I had drifted in close to shore in my canoe to see what Musquash was doing on top of a rock. All muskrats have favorite eating places—a rock, a stranded log, a tree boll that leans out over the water, and always a [115] pretty spot—whither they bring food from a distance, evidently for the purpose of eating it where they feel most at home. ”

“ Though the musk is obtainable at a very reasonable price in these districts, the risks and dangers from highwaymen which traders encounter on the road are so great that only those who are uncommonly adventurous proceed thither to get a supply from the natives.
The Tibetan musk is sent in larger quantities to China than to India, notwithstanding the fact that transport to the latter is easier. Almost all goods from Tibet to China travel through Ta-chien-lu. ”

“ The northern extremity of the river, which waters the Tejend oasis and the Sarakhs region, preserves in the main the characteristics of the upper stream. The undulating country between the Hari Rud and the Murghab, extending from the northern slopes of the Paropamisus to the edge of the Kara Kum, is called Badghis. At one time this district included the oasis of Yulatan and, even now, it embraces Pendjeh. Across it, along the banks of the Murghab and through the valley of the Kushk, runs the direct road from Merv to Herat. ”

“ The musjids in Kabul are mostly small ones, and are usually constructed so that three sides are enclosed and the fourth side left open, and they are built in such position that the direction of their length points to Mecca, in which is the tomb of the Prophet, for it is in the direction of Mecca that all Mussulmans face while saying their prayers. One very large musjid, called the Jumah Musjid, was built by the late Amir, who issued a proclamation that all those who were good Mussulmans must bring at least one stone from the mountains to be used in its construction as their share of the work. ”

“ 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. ”

“ After death admit us to Paradise." Killing the Mussulman was a religious duty which the Kafirs performed with the greatest fidelity and diligence. In fact, no young man was allowed to marry until he had killed a Mussulman. They attached the same importance to the killing of a Mussulman as the Red Indians did to taking the scalp of an enemy. Their number did not appear to exceed 250,000. They inhabited three valleys, and small as their number was they were constantly at war with each other, and seized upon the members of kindred tribes in order to sell them as slaves. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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 animal is called Mussong, at Java, and I found it was also known by the same name among the natives on the north-east coast of Sumatra: it licks and cleans its furry coat with the tongue like the cat, especially after it has been much handled; and seems also to possess the caution and secretiveness of that tribe. It growls savagely when disturbed or teazed. ”

“ As he had hoped, Old Muskie pulled the other way, and with a tremendous rush, left the treetops, and started toward the channel into the open lake. Half-way across he gave an astonishing leap into the air, showing the boys for the first time just what a monster they had succeeded in hooking.
Hope more lively than any they had felt before filled the hearts of the young fishermen, as the monster maskinonge rushed across the cove. But instead of hitting the narrow open channel into the main lake, he rushed across the wide bar, through a veritable forest of bulrushes. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The Mussulman approaches, throws off his flowing robe, steps out of his yellow slippers, and unwinds his voluminous turban with devout deliberateness. A small marble step, worn hollow with pious use, supports his foot while he washes from the knee downward. His hands and arms, with the flowing sleeve of his silk shirt rolled to the shoulder, receive the same lavation, and then, washing his face, he repeats a brief prayer, resumes all but his slippers, and enters the mosque, barefooted. The mihrab (or niche indicating the side toward the tomb of the prophet) , fixes his eye. ”

“ In the winter, when the snow betrays his traces, he is more easily shot, and his skin and flesh are then also in the best condition. In spite of his apparent clumsiness and stolidity, the muskwa is more alert than the brown bear, whom he nearly approaches in size; he runs so fast that no man can overtake him, and is an excellent swimmer and climber. When attacked, he generally retreats as fast as possible into the forest; but if escape is impossible, he turns furiously upon his pursuers, and becomes exceedingly dangerous. ”

“ 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. ”