374 HUNTING ADVENTURES. 



scarcely accessible districts lying- nearest the North Pok. In 

 destining the musk ox to inhabit the domains of frost and stc /m, 

 nature has paid especial attention 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 his limbs, avoiding the exposure 

 that would result from a greater elevation of the trunk. 



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 grown, 

 the musk ox is ten hands and a half high, according to Parry, and 

 as large as the generality of the English black cattle ; but their 

 legs, though large, are not so long ; nor is the tail longer than that 

 of a bear, and like the tail of that animal it always bends down- 

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

 the rump and hind-quarters. The hunch on the shoulder is not 

 large, being little larger in proportion than that of a deer. Their 

 hair is particularly long on the belly, sides and hind-quarters ; but 

 the longest hair about them, particularly on 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. 



Eiearne states that he has seen many herds of musk oxen in the 

 high northern latitudes, during a single day's journey, and some 

 of these herds contain from eighty to a hundred individuals, of 

 which number a very small proportion were bulls, and it was quite 

 uncommon to see more than two or three full grown males, even 

 with the largest herds. The Indians had a notion that the males 

 destroy each other in combating for the females, and this idea is 

 somewhat supported by the warlike disposition manifested by 

 these animals during their sexual seasons. The bulls are then so 

 jealous of every thing that approaches their favorites, that they 

 will not only attack men or quadrupeds, but will run bellowing 

 after ravens or other large birds that venture too near the cows. 



Musk oxen are found in the greatest numbers within the arctic 

 circle ; considerable herds are occasionally seen near the coast of 



