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M U S K. 



to joint, they do not assist in giving any cross or 

 twisting motions to the joints, which are still suscep- 

 tible of vigorous motion only in one plane, like the 

 corresponding joints of the other ruminants. Still 

 these bones are by no means without their use in the 

 economy of the animals, for they give a firm insertion 

 and imbedment to the muscles, and also a security 

 against fracture, which could not be secured by any 

 single bone, how much soever it might be beset with 

 processes. The cartilaginous union between those 

 bones and the others, prevents the shock upon the 

 principal bone of the limb from being propagated to 

 the muscles, and jarring and disturbing their action, at 

 the same time that it gives strength and firmness to 

 the muscles and tendons, by means of which they can 

 better bear their part in the motion of the limb. 



And when we come to consider the camels, and 

 more especially the musks.and, most of all, the animal 

 which furnishes the perfume, in combination with the 

 peculiar nature of their pastures, we cannot fail to be 

 struck with the admirable resource of nature in fur- 

 nishing their limbs with means of endurance in pro- 

 portion to their size, which are riot to be met with in 

 any other animals having merely walking feet. It is 

 true that the small bones applied to the canon bones 

 of the horse give great additional stability and power 

 of endurance to that animal ; and it is, in a great mea- 

 sure, in consequence of the possession of these small 

 bones, that, as it is beautifully expressed, the horse 

 " paweth in the valley and rejoiceth in his strength." 

 It is in the valley, however, that the horse shows off 

 his fine paces upon the turf, where there is still some 

 elasticity in the covering of the ground, which helps 

 to let him down gently as he dashes along. With 

 the camel and the musk it is different. The march of 

 thecamel is in the desert and often deep in the sand, so 

 that he is necessitated to lift his feet high, and con- 

 sequently make a bumping and heavy foot-fall, which 

 would shake the legs of a differently constructed ani- 

 mal to pieces. The musk has still severer pastures ; he 

 is on the dry and rocky mountains, where it seldom 

 rains, and where mouthfuls of food are " few and far 

 between," and therefore nature has adapted his limbs 

 to the wilderness of stones as finely as the limbs of 

 the camels are adapted to the wilderness of sand. It 

 is in those creatures which are fitted for what may 

 be regarded as the extremes of locality that we see 

 most forcibly the admirable provision which nature, 

 that is, the Great Author of nature, has made for every 

 creature according to its necessity. 



As the animal which produces the musk, and the 

 other animals which nearly agree with it in general 

 structure, are brought into the same group, have dif- 

 ferent localities, both in latitude and in character of 

 surface, they necessarily have different adaptations, 

 and therefore a description, descending to much 

 minutiae, could not apply properly to them both. It 

 is true that they are all upland or mountain animals, 

 fitted for bounding along in dry places ; and the small 

 ones are admirable in the delicately light appearance 

 of their bodies and limbs, and most graceful in their 

 motions. But they are children of the lands of the 

 sun, and not more than one is found out of the Oriental 

 Archipelago, and even that one is rarely, if at all, 

 found as far north as the central latitude of India. 

 We shall therefore take them separately the one 

 that has been longest known, under the generic 

 name Moschus ; and the others under the generic 

 name Tragulus. 



MOSCHUS. The species of this genus is the com- 

 mon musk (Mosclius moschiferui), whose head-quarters 

 are in the vast table land of Central Asia, between 

 the sources of the Indian rivers in the south, and 

 those of the great Siberian rivers in the north ; and 

 between the sources of the great Chinese rivers on 

 the east, and the rivers which flow to the inland seas 

 of Asia on the west. These rivers do not overlay 

 each other, as is the case with the rivers which rise 

 in single ridges of mountains, or upon successive ridges 

 where much rain falls. The remote sources of some 

 of them, indeed of most of them, are very imperfectly 

 known ; for few portions of the earth's surface are 

 more completely a sealed book to the natural geo- 

 grapher than this same portion of Asia ; but we are 

 sure that there is in the centre of this extensive region 

 a very large portion from which no river is discharged ; 

 and it is this portion which forms the grand abode, 

 and in some respects the fortress, of the musk animal. 

 That animul is thus intimately connected with one of 

 the most interesting questions which remain unsolved 

 respecting the natural history of the earth's surface ; 

 and, besides this, the most characteristic animal of 

 such a country is highly interesting on its own ac- 

 count ; and the interest is certainly not lessened by 

 the perfume which the animal furnishes, and the great 

 estimation in which this perfume is held, more espe- 

 cially in the East. 



The animal is not confined to the absolute centre 

 of this table land, but extends along the mountain 

 ridges which branch out from it. It is not found to 

 the southward of the Himalaya, nor in the central de- 

 sert which slopes westward to Lake Aral and the 

 Caspian ; but it extends south-eastward into the ele- 

 vated parts of Tonquin, and northward as far as the 

 Altaian ridge. Those nations, speaking many lan- 

 guages, are familiar with it ; and there is not, perhaps, 

 throughout the world an undomesticated animal which 

 has more names than the musk. 



In such an extent of latitude as it inhabits, it is 

 natural to suppose that it must be affected by some 

 climatal differences ; but it does not appear that these 

 are such as to affect the identity of the species. The 

 chief difference is in the odour of the drug, which is 

 more powerful in proportion as the animal inhabits 

 more southerly. In the warm latitude of Tonquin it 

 is exceedingly powerful, while in the extreme north 

 of the animal's habitat it has not more odour than 

 the substance furnished by the beaver in polar cli- 

 mates. 



Musk, as a substance, was known in Asia from very 

 remote antiquity ; and it was very early introduced 

 into Europe. It was long, however, before any know- 

 ledge was attained of the animal producing it, and 

 some of the earliest accounts represented the animal 

 as a deer with horns. Our illustrious countryman 

 Grew, to whom natural history generally, and parti- 

 cularly the physiology of plants, is so much indebted, 

 was the first naturalist who gave anything like a 

 satisfactory description of the animal, and Buffon and 

 Daubenton were the first who obtained a living spe- 

 cimen in Europe, while Professor Pallas had opportu- 

 nities of examining the animal in its native locality. 

 After this it speedily took its place in the system, 

 as a distinct and very peculiar ruminant animal. 



When full grown it is about the size of a roebuck 

 at six months old, being one foot ten inches in height 

 at the shoulder and two feet at the crupper. This supe- 

 rior production of the hind legs indicates a vigorous 



