30 THE MUSK OX. 



ence of wintry skies. Yet we have already seen 

 that they are the favourite resorts of multitudes of 

 animals, varying in size, characters and habits, from 

 the Lemming to the Moose. A species remains to 

 be described, which, of these forbidding regions 

 prefers the most barren and desolate parts, and is 

 found in the greatest abundance in the rugged and 

 scarcely accessible districts lying nearest the North 

 Pole. This species, so far from being condemned to a 

 life of extreme privation and suffering, appears to 

 derive as much enjoyment from existence, as those 

 which feed in more luxuriant pastures, or bask in 

 the genial rays of a summer sun. 



In destining the musk ox to inhabit the domains 

 of frost and storm, nature has paid especial atten- 

 tion to its security against the effects of both; first, 

 by covering its body with a coat of long, dense hair, 

 and then, by the shortness of its limbs, avoiding the 

 exposure that would result from a greater elevation 

 of the trunk. The projection of the orbits of the 

 eyes, which is very remarkable in this species, is 

 thought by Parry to be intended to carry the eye 

 clear of the large quantity of hair required to pre- 

 serve the warmth of the head. 



Although some few items relative to this animal 

 are to be gathered from the works of the recent ex- 

 plorers of the Northern Regions, it is to Hearne, 

 that we are almost exclusively indebted for the 

 Natural History of the musk ox, as we have already 

 been for that of most of the animals inhabiting the 



