DOMESTICATION OF RUMINATING MAMMALS 313 



Musk-oxen have the following advantages over reindeer as domesti- 

 cated animals. 



(1) A full grown musk-ox gives twice as much meat probably as a 

 grown reindeer of the same sex and twice as much fat. (As to the time 

 it takes to mature, I do not have the facts.) 



(2) A musk-ox gives two or three times as much milk as a reindeer. 

 The milk is considered by the white men of our parties to be better than 

 cow's milk in taste. It differs from cow's milk hardly at all except in 

 being richer in cream. 



(3) Reindeer, unless herded, tend to range far. Musk-oxen do not 

 move until they have finished the feed in a given locality and then they 

 move to the next spot of good feed. A herd of musk-oxen in grazing 

 moves from three to five miles a month, generally. 



(4) Musk-oxen are not stampeded by bad weather as reindeer and 

 cattle are, and they cannot be stampeded by wolves and dogs. 



(5) It is probably very rare that wolves kill musk-oxen. A band of 

 wolves cannot make the least impression on a herd of musk-oxen, and I 

 am of the opinion that even two grown animals would stand off a band 

 of wolves. We frequently see them feeding unconcernedly with wolves 

 walking about near them, evidently seen by the musk-oxen.* It is likely, 

 however, that single animals are occasionally surprised away from the 

 herd and killed, though they commonly feed bunched up and form a de- 

 fensive circle at the first snort of alarm from one of their number. Young 

 calves are probably also killed occasionally by sudden onslaughts of 

 wolves. Whether bears kill musk-oxen, we do not know, but it is Ukely. 

 We have at least proof that they occasionally try to get caribou; though 

 it is almost certain they rarely or never succeed. 



(6) The greatest advantage of the musk-ox over caribou is that, like 

 sheep, it furnishes a large amount of wool annually without having to 

 be killed first. Just what commercial use of wool would best fit, I do not 

 know, but it is clear to anyone familiar with the methods of working wool 

 employed by our grandparents that any Eskimo or other owner of a few 

 musk-oxen could make for himself warm and comfortable clothing at 

 home from their wool. However, I have not the slightest doubt there is 

 a market for the wool, or, at least, that a market will develop as soon as 

 the available quantity becomes considerable. If the animals were clipped 

 there would be a certain comparatively small amount of hair mixed with 

 the wool, but, if this were found detrimental to its commercial value and 

 if machinery could not be devised to separate the hair from the wool, it 



* Ekblaw records the killing of a full-grown male musk-ox, one of a band 

 of four, by a pair of wolves in EUesmere Island (MacMillan'a "Four Years 

 in the White North," pp. 348-349). 



