MUSK. 



'297 



leaper ; while the disproportion is not so great as to 

 destroy the symmetry and power of its action as an 

 animal of swift motion on its legs. The upper part 

 of its head bears some resemblance to that of a roe- 

 buck ; but the character of the mouth is different, 

 arising not so much from the form of the bones as 

 from the large canines which descend from each side 

 of the month, and make the upper lip seem broad ; 

 and the tufts of produced hair at the bottom of the 

 gape give an appearance of breadth there also. The 

 hair is remarkably coarse and strong, and has almost 

 a spinous appearance. The basal part of it is white ; 

 but the extremities are different shades of black, 

 brown, or dun colour, which makes the general tint 

 vary with the position in which the animal is seen. 

 The under part of the body, the insides of the legs, 

 the chin and the lips, are white ; and the eyes are 

 reddish brown. The legs, though clean and light, 

 are very firm ; and the hoofs are strong and sharp- 

 pointed. The successorial, or supplemental hoofs 

 behind the principal ones, are much longer and firmer 

 in proportion than those of any other ruminating 

 animal ; and though they cannot be said to act against 

 the others by an absolute grasp, as a thumb acts 

 against fingers, yet they enable the animal to take a 

 firm hold of the sharp edges of those rocks among 

 which it has so frequently to make its way ; and thus 

 furnished in its feet, the animal can ascend and de- 

 scend with equal rapidity and safety as the chamois. 

 In fact no animal is better adapted for bounding from 

 rock to rock, clearing chasms, mounting precipices, 

 and descending the steepest slopes. It is also an ex- 

 cellent swimmer, and can stem the torrents of the 

 mountain streams with the greatest hardihood. 



Inhabiting a country where it is subjected to many 

 privations, it can, during the severe weather, subsist 

 upon lichens, like the rein-deer ; and in the summer 

 it is under the necessity of browsing the leaves, and 

 even gnawing the stems of those rhododendrons, 

 which form the principal vegetation of some of its 

 more northerly haunts. In short it is an animal tem- 

 pered to a hard country, to hard weather, and to hard 

 food. Notwithstanding the comparative sterility of 

 their pastures they become very fat in the autumn ; 

 and in proportion as they become fat the musky se- 

 cretion becomes abundant and odorous. Whatever 

 may be the purpose of this secretion, the matter of it 

 seems to pervade the whole animal ; for even the 

 chyme, before it is converted into chyle, has a musky 

 smell ; and the flesh of the animal has the same, and 

 the stronger the higher condition it is in. The na- 

 tives of the country hunt it with considerable avidity 

 as well for the musk as for the flesh of the animal. 

 The little pouch which contains the musk, and the 

 follicle by which it is secreted, are peculiar to the 

 male, and situated backwards on the abdomen. Va- 

 rious physiological theories of the use of this sub- 

 stance has been propounded, but none of them is 

 altogether satisfactory ; and some of them, together 

 with inferences which have been drawn from them, 

 do not admit of satisfactory explanation in a popular 

 manner. 



These animals come in season in November ; and 

 the fawns are dropped about the end of May. Their 

 colour is at first reddish grey, dappled with whitish 

 spots disposed in lines. In the following winter 

 they become deeper brown, with yellowish spots irre- 

 gularly disposed on the flanks, and more regular 

 ones on the back. The produced canines of the 



males are not developed until the animals arrive at 

 maturity. 



The time for hunting the musks is chiefly in the 

 ruttine: season ; that is, in November ; because then, 

 as we have already hinted, the musk is most abundant 

 and has the most powerful scent. When the animal 

 is seized, which is rarely done without killing it, as 

 they are very timid as well as very fleet, the first care 

 of the hunter is to secure the musk-bag, which is done 

 by cutting it out and rolling it up like a little purse ; 

 the quantity contained in one is very small, however ; 

 and therefore it is generally understood that even the 

 best musk of commerce is adulterated by being mixed 

 with other substances. Some differences of species 

 as to size and. colour, and the form of the ears, have 

 been mentioned ; but probably these are merely cli- 

 matal ; and they do not appear, from the accounts 

 given of them, to be accompanied by any differences 

 in the economy of the animals. 



The musk animal never descends into the plains, 

 or approaches the habitation of man. It is decidedly 

 an animal of wild nature, endeavouring to escape to 

 its fastnesses when seen, and incapable of anything 

 like domestication. 



TRAGULUS. This name, taken literally, means 

 " little goat," or, in fact, any small animal with a 

 rough or shaggy coat, which browses hard plants, and 

 gnaws the twigs or the bark of trees ; and it h-as 

 been sometimes applied to one section of the ante- 

 lopes, which are remarkable for the length, height, 

 and fleetness of their leaps. 



The generic characters of the small animals to 

 which this name is applied differ very little from 

 those of the musk animal properly so called, only 

 they are all without the musk-bag and follicle, and 

 thus are not musk animals in any other sense than as 

 they belong, in their general structure, to the same 

 group with the animal that furnishes the drug. All 

 the animals which are included in this genus or sub- 

 genus are inhabitants of the mountain forests, or, at 

 all events, of the forests upon elevated places ; but 

 their haunts are too difficult to be explored for en- 

 abling us to speak positively as to the species. There 

 may be distinct species which are not at present 

 known ; and some of those which are now described 

 as species may be only varieties ; we must, however, 

 take them according to the accounts given by those 

 who have seen them on the spot. 



Memina (T. memina}. This animal is about "the 

 size of a rabbit, that is to say, sixteen or seventeen 

 inches long, with a very short tail ; the covering on 

 the upper part is olive-ash ; and the throat, breast, and 

 belly, w hite ; the neck, sides, and horns, are also pe- 

 culiarly, but not unhandsomely, marked with lines 

 and bars of white; there are two longitudinal ones 

 upon each side ; one near the back, which terminates 

 in a turned-up point at the hinder part of the loins : 

 the other is broader, farther down, and more irre- 

 gular ; but whether these are uniform in all indivi- 

 duals, or at all ages, is not ascertained ; the ears are 

 rather large, and the muzzle produced and slender ; 

 the canines in the male are large for the size of the 

 animal, and much recurved backwards. 



The memina is the species of these little musks 

 which has been longest known. It was first men- 

 tioned by Knox, in his account of Ceylon, as a native 

 of that island ; and it has since been found in the 

 southern part of continental India. In the account 

 of the mammalia of the Deccan, laid before the 



