MUSA 



Plantain 



Distribution. 



Follicle. 



Tield. 

 Price. 



Trade 

 Qualities. 



Musk-pods. 

 Grain Musk. 



Trade. 



Tonquin. 



Substitutes. 



D.E.P., 



v., 290-307. 



Banana. 



THE MUSK-DEER 



rocky country. Occurs on the Himalaya west to Gilgit and east to Sikkim, 

 usually at altitudes of 8,000 to 12,000 feet, and is also met with in Tibet and 

 Central Asia as far as Siberia. The rutting season is in January, the period of 

 gestation about 160 days, a single young one being usually produced. 



Musk is the contents of the abdominal gland the prseputial follicle. Within 

 is a secretion that looks like coagulated blood, has a greasy touch and a strong 

 penetrating odour. It is only developed in the rutting season, and as sold is a 

 brown, soft mass possessed of the well-known odour. An ounce is about the 

 average produce of one animal. Good and pure pods fetch from Rs. 10 to Rs. 15 

 according to size, but they are often much adulterated with blood and other 

 material. Musk-deer are snared or shot to secure the " musk-pods," but the 

 flesh is said to be well-flavoured and not at all tainted, as might have been ex- 

 pected, with the penetrating odour of the musk. The males smell of it, but the 

 females never do so. 



There are recognised in trade three chief grades, viz., (1) the Cabardien or 

 Russian musk ; (2) Assam musk (which includes all grades of Indian musk) ; 

 and (3) Tonquin or Chinese Musk. The Assam and Tibetan musks reach Europe 

 via Calcutta. When dried within the follicle, it bears the name of " Musk-pods ''; 

 when scraped out and sold in granular form it is called " Grain Musk." It is 

 shipped in bags enclosed in wooden or tin-lined chests that contain about 200 

 pods. In the Dictionary will be found an interesting note on the Bashahr Musk, 

 contributed by Mr. G. G. Miniken. The Himalayan Musk has been known from 

 ancient times and Baber in 1519 refers to it, but within the past decade or so 

 the demand for the Indian article seems to have been declining. 



The following were the exports to foreign countries : In 1899-1900, 611 oz., 

 valued at Rs. 11,900 ; in 1900-1, 647 oz., valued at Rs. 18,873 ; in 1901-2, 309 

 oz., valued atRs. 13,320; in 1902-3, 44 oz., valued atRs 1,500; in 1903-4, 53 oz., 

 valued at Rs. 2,425 ; in 1904-5, exports nil; in 1905-6, 223 oz., valued at Rs. 

 11,180; and in 1906-7, 668 oz., valued at Rs. 14,500. Capital (Oct. 20, 1904) 

 gives an instructive account of the traffic in this substance and exhibits the 

 official statistics of imports into Bengal from Tibet and Bhutan for 16 years 

 prior to that date. The Bhutan had preserved a mean valuation of Rs. 15,000, 

 while the Tibetan had fluctuated from a valuation of Rs. 3,343 to Rs. 1,27,144. 

 "The official valuation of the Tibetan musk last year was Rs. 40 per oz. and 

 that of Bhutan Rs. 32. The price of the Tonquin musk in England has been as 

 high as 119s. an oz. and as low as 45s. Ten years ago the price was from 90s. to 

 95s. the oz. The latest quotations in the London market for genuine grain 

 musk of good quality is 72s. 6d. to 75s. per ounce." [Cf. Marco Polo, 

 Travels (ed. Yule), ii., 35; Baber, Memoirs (Leyden and Erskine, transl.), 

 313 ; Barbosa, Coasts E. Africa and Malabar (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 186-7; Terry, Voy. 

 E. Ind., 1655 (ed. 1777), 109 ; Tavernier, Travels (Ball, transl.), ii., 143-6, 

 258-60 ; Linschoten, Voy. E. Ind. (ed. Hakl. Soc.), ii., 94-5 ; Pyrard, Voy. E. 

 Ind., 1601 (ed. Hakl. Soc.), ii., 359 ; Fryer, New Ace. E. Ind. andPers., 212 ; Boym, 

 Fl. Sin., Z ; Birdwood and Foster, E.I.C. First Letter Book, 131, 255, 261, 287, 

 428, etc. ; Milburn, Or. Comm., ii., 513-4 ; As. Res., 1832, xvii., 15 ; Kirkpatrick, 

 Kingdom of Nepaul, 131 ; Hoffmeister, Travels Cont. Ind. (Engl. transl.), 323 ; 

 Brandt, and Ratzeb., Med. ZooL, 1829, i., 41-5, t. 7 ; Paulus dSgineta (Adams, 

 Comment.), 1847, iii., 468-70; Rockhill, Mongolia and Tibet, 71 ; Cordemoy, Le 

 Prod. Colon. d'Orig. Animale, 1903, 362-5 ; Fulton, Notes on Mammalia of Chitral, 

 inJourn. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc., 1903, xiv., 760 ; Waddell, Lhasa and Its Mysteries, 

 1905, 483.] 



Musk Substitutes. The term " Musk " is in common usage applied in com- 

 pound names to a number of products of both animal and vegetable character, 

 possessed more or less of the scent of the true perfume. Amongst these may be 

 mentioned the musk-rat (or shrew); the musk-plant (jiinittltt* inonclmtus); 

 and the A6eimoscli* of India (i&iscs A.iteim ouches). The last mentioned is 

 the only substitute that has so far attracted serious attention, but the experi- 

 ments in its cultivation on a commercial scale cannot be regarded as having 

 proved successful. 



MUSA, Linn. ; Fl Br. Ind., vi., 261-3 ; Rheede, Hort. Mai, 

 i., 17, tt. 12-4 ; Kumphius, Herb. Amb., v., 130, t. 60 ; Hughes, Hist. 

 Barbados, 1750, 184, t. 16 ; Roxburgh, Coromandel PI, t. 275 ; Kurz, 

 Journ. Agri.-Hort. Soc. Ind., 1867, xiv., 295-301 ; n.s. 1878, v., 112-68 ; 



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