THE MUSK ANIMAL. 



2.55 



until it comes within the proper distance, when 

 all at once it bounds upon the heedless ani- 

 mul, and instantly kills it, and sucks its blood. 

 If, on tlie other hand, it misses its aim, it rests 

 in its place, without attempting to pursue 

 any farther, but seems ashamed of its own 

 inability. 



There is still another way of taking the ga- 

 zelle, which seems not so certain, nor so amus- 

 ing as either of the former. A tame gazelle 

 is bred up for this purpose, who is taught to 

 join those of its k'md, wherever it perceives 

 them. When the hunter, therefore, perceives 

 a herd of these together, he fixes a noose round 

 the horns of the tame gazelle in such a man- 

 ner, that if the rest but touch it, they are en- 



tangled ; and thus prepared, he sends his ga- 

 zelle among the rest. The tame animal no 

 sooner approaches, but the males of the herd 

 instantly sally forth to oppose him ; and, in 

 butting with their horns, are caught in the 

 noose. In this, both struggling for some time, 

 fall together to the ground ; and, at last, the 

 hunter coining up, disengages the one, and kills 

 the other. Upon the whole, however, these 

 animals, whatever be the arts used to pursue 

 them, are very difficult to be taken. As they 

 are continually subject to alarms from car- 

 nivorous beasts, or from man, they keep chiefly 

 in the most solitary and inaccessible places, 

 and find their only protection from situations 

 of the greatest danger. 



CHAPTER XLIV. 



OF THE MUSK ANIMAL. 



THE more we search into nature, the more 

 we shall find how little she is known ; and 

 we shall more than once have occasion to find, 

 that protracted inquiry is more apt to teach us 

 modesty, than to produce information. Al- 

 though the number and nature of quadrupeds 

 at first glance seems very little known ; yet, 

 when we come to examine closer, we find 

 so ne with which we are very pjtrtially ac- 

 qijatrue-d^aacl others thnrt are utterly unknown. 

 There is scarce a cabinet of the curious but 

 what has the spoils of animals, or the horns or 

 th hoofs qf quadrupeds, which do not come 

 within former descriptions. There is scarce a 

 person whose trade is to dress or improve furs, 

 but knows several creatures by their skins, 

 which n > naturalist has hitherto had notice of. 

 But of all quadrupeds, there is none so justly the 

 reproach of natural historians, as that which 

 bears the musk. This perfume, so well known 

 to the elegant, and so very useful in the hands 

 of the physician; a medicine that has for more 

 than a century been imported from the East 

 in great quantities, and during all that time 

 has been improving in its reputation, is, never- 

 theless, so very little understood, that it re- 

 nviins a doubt whether the ani-nal that pro- 

 duces it be a hog, an ox, a goat, or a deer. 



When an animal with which we are so nearly 

 connected, is so utterly unknown, how little 

 must we know of many that are more remote 

 and unserviceable ! Yet naturalists proceed in 

 the same train, enlarging their catalogues and 

 their names, without endeavouring to find out 

 the nature, and fix the precise history of those 

 with which we are very partially acquainted. 

 It is the spirit of the scholars of the present 

 age to be fonder of increasing the bulk of our 

 knowledge, than its utility ; of extending their 

 conquests, than of improving their empire. 



The musk which comes to Europe, is 

 brought over in small bags, about the size of 

 a pigeon's egg, which, when cut open, appear 

 to contain a kind of dusky, reddish substance, 

 like coagulated blood, and which, in large 

 quantities, has a very strong smell ; but, when 

 mixed and diffused, becomes a very agreeable 

 perfume. Indeed, no substance now known 

 in the world has a stronger or a more perma- 

 nent smell. A grain of musk perfumes a 

 whole room ; and its odour continues for some 

 days without diminution. But in a larger 

 quantity it continues for years together ; and 

 seems scarce wasted in its weight, although it 

 has filled the atmosphere to a great distance 

 with its parts. It is particularly used in mcdi- 



