38 THE MUSK OX. 



throughout the distance from Knapp's Bay to 

 Wager Water. They have in a few instances been 

 seen as low down as lat. 60° N. Capt. Parry's 

 people killed some individuals on Melville Island, 

 which were remarkably well fed and fat. They 

 are not commonly found at a great distance from the 

 woods, and when they feed on open grounds they 

 prefer the most rocky and precipitous situations. 

 Yet, notwithstanding their bulk and apparent un- 

 wieldiness, they climb among the rocks with all the 

 ease and agility of the goat, to which they are quite 

 equal in sureness of foot. Their favourite food is 

 grass, but when this is not to be had, they readily 

 feed upon moss, the twigs of willow, or tender 

 shoots of pine.* 



The appearance of the musk ox is singular and 

 imposing, owing to the shortness of the limbs, its 

 broad flattened crooked horns, and the long dense 

 hair which envelopes the whole of its trunk, and 

 hangs down nearly to the ground. When full 



* It is singular and well worthy of observation 1 , that the 

 dung of the musk ox, though so large an animal, is not lar- 

 ger than, and, at the same time, is so nearly of the shape and 

 colour of that of the'Alpine Hare, that the difference is not 

 easily distinguished except by the Indians, though the 

 quantity generally indicates the animal to which it belonged. 

 In the country adjacent to the Coppermine river, long ridg- 

 es of this dung, together with that of deer and other animals 

 were seen by Hearne. Similar appearances were observed 

 by Parry on several of the North Georgian Islands. 



