THE MUSK OX. 33 



grown, the musk ox is ten hands and a half high, 

 according to Parry, and as large as the generality, 

 or at least the middling size of English black cat- 

 tle; but their legs, though large, are not so long; nor 

 is their tail longer than that of a bear, and like the 

 tail of that animal it always bends downwards and 

 inwards, so that it is entirely hid by the long hair of 

 the rump and hind quarters. The hunch on their 

 shoulders is not large, being little more in propor- 

 tion than that of a deer. Their hair is in some parts 

 very long, particularly on the belly, sides and 

 hind quarters; but the longest hair about them, par- 

 ticularly the bulls, is under the throat, extending from 

 the chin to the lower part of the chest, between 

 the forelegs; it there hangs down like a horse's 

 mane inverted, and is full as long.* 



*" Mr. Dragge says in his voyage, vol. 2, p. 260, that the 

 musk ox is lower than a deer, but larger as to belly and 

 quarters; which is very far from the truth. They are of 

 the size I have here described them, and the Indians always 

 estimate the flesh of a full grown cow to be equal to three 

 deer. I am sorry also to be obliged to contradict my friend 

 Mr. Graham, who says that the flesh of this animal is car- 

 ried on sledges to Prince of Wales' Fort, to the amount of 

 three or four thousand pounds annually. To the amount of 

 near one thousand pounds may have been purchased from the 

 natives in some particular years, but it more frequently 

 happens that not an ounce is brought one year out of five, 

 and in fact, all that has ever been carried to Prince of 

 Wales' Fort, has most assuredly been killed out of a herd 



Vol. III.— 5 



