686 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxvni. 



seen his Hrst iimsk-ox skin at Fort MePhei'son, Peel River, then 

 in chur^c^ of his father, Chief Trader (leorg-e Deschambeault. It had 

 probably been taken from "a strauolcr by an Indian on the east side 

 of the Mackenzie River. In the " Barrens'" proper, however, as well 

 as along the arctic American coast, and on the borders of, and for a 

 short distance within the northern forest region to the southeastward, 

 in winter, musk oxen are fairly, though in no cne place or section very 

 numerous. In fact, very few were ever observed b}' us on any of our 

 several specimen-collecting tours from Fort Anderson to Franklin 

 Bay. or on any other of our many siumnei' and winter journeys within 

 the Arctic Circle. 



On one occasion, however ('July 4. LS()4:), on our way back from that 

 bay, we saw a herd of twenty-live animals of various ages reposing 

 on the side (and just below the suuuuit) of a gentle eminence in the 

 Barren Grounds. A patriarchal-looking bull on the top of the emi- 

 nence evidently kept guard, while the others appeared to sleep. I 

 had been for some time endeavoring to obtain a pair of live calves for 

 shipment to London and as this seemed a good opportunit}- for mak- 

 ing an attempt in that direction we rapidly advanced to about 300 

 yards from their position, when we halted and unloaded our twelve 

 Eskimo pack-carrying dogs and sent them at the herd, while sev- 

 eral of the fastest sprinters in our party of twenty followed as closely 

 as they could. As soon as the dogs were perceived, the sentinel gave 

 the alarm and the musk oxen immediately set off in different direc- 

 tions, apparently ^'ery much startled, but when the dogs began to 

 bark the musk oxen rallied instantly, came together, and presented 

 a rather formidable front to their assailants. This military-square- 

 like formation on the part of the musk oxen seemed to have a rather 

 terrifying effect on our dogs, as they almost ceased to bark, though 

 now within a few yards of the herd. In the meantime we were all 

 rapidly nearing the herd, and I was in hopes that with our dogs we 

 might be able to surround or run down and capture one or more of 

 the several spring calves observed. When they became aware of our 

 near presence — the close proximity of the dogs (who resumed their 

 barking) having taken up their attention — by the premature tiring of 

 a shot whicli fatally wounded one of the larger animals they all scam- 

 pered away at such a sweeping canter that we soon gave up the chase 

 as hopeless, although our dogs continued to follow them for some 

 time, but later returned to partake of the spoil of the killed animal. 

 After skinning the three-year-old male, we noticed a moving o])ject at 

 some distance, which we supposed to be one of the dogs, but it turned 

 out to be a spring calf which had evidently swerved from the main 

 body and Avas dou])tless searching for its mother. Several of the 

 party thereupon started out with the dogs in full pursuit, and we all 

 had to show our best paces for several hundred yards before we could 



