408 MUSK OX. 



It is a native of North America, where it ap- 

 pears to be a very local animal ; being found first 

 in the tract between Churchill river and that of 

 the Seals, on the west side of Hudson's Bay, and 

 is very numerous between the latitudes 66 and 

 73 north, which is as far as any tribes of Indians 

 go. They are also found in the land of Cm, or 

 CristinaiLv, and the Assinibouelx, and again among 

 the Attimospiquay, a nation supposed to inhabit 

 about the head of the river Seals, probably not 

 very remote from the South Sea. They are con- 

 tinued from these countries southward as low as 

 the provinces of Quivera and Cibola ; for, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Pennant, Father Marco di Nica and 

 Gomara plainly describe them. 



This animal is but of small size, being rather 

 lower than the Deer, but larger or thicker in 

 body. The hair, in the male, is of a dusky red 

 colour, extremely fine, and so long as to trail on 

 the ground, and render the animal a seemingly 

 shapeless mass, without distinction of head or 

 tail : the legs are very short ; the shoulders rise 

 into a lump, and the tail is very short, being a 

 kind of stump of a few inches only, with very 

 long hairs. Beneath the hair, on all parts of the 

 animal, is an extremely fine cinereous wool, which 

 is said to be more beautiful than silk when manu- 

 factured into stockings and other articles. The 

 horns are closely united at the base, bending inwards 

 and downwards; but turning outwards towards 

 the tips, which are very sharp : near the base the 

 horns are two feet in girth, but are only two feet 



