THE MUSK ANIMAL. 299 



mild : there are two tusks in the upper jaw ; the 

 tail is about an inch in length ; and the feet are 

 remarkable for having no false hoofs, by which 

 this species may be distinguished from the ante- 

 lope, to which it is similar in size and general 

 appearance. The legs of the pigmy musk, like 

 those of the pigmy antelope, have been frequent- 

 ly capped at the upper joint with gold or silver, 

 and in that state used by way of tobacco-stop- 

 pers.]* 



After so long and circumstantial a description 

 of this animal, its nature is but very little known ; 

 nor has any anatomist as yet examined its internal 

 structure, or been able to inform us whether it be 

 a ruminant animal, or one of the hog kind ; how 

 the musk is formed, or whether those bags in 

 which it comes to us be really belonging to the 

 animal, or are only the sophistications of the ven- 

 ders. Indeed, when we consider the immense 

 quantities of this substance which are consumed 

 in Europe alone, not to mention the East, where 

 it is in still greater repute than here, we can 

 hardly suppose that any one animal can furnish 

 the supply, and particularly when it must be kill- 

 ed before the bag can be obtained. We are told, 

 it is true, that the musk is often deposited by the 

 animal upon trees and stones, against which it 

 rubs itself when the quantity becomes uneasy ; 

 but it is not in that form which we receive it, but 

 always in what seems to be its own natural blad- 



* Shaw's Zoology. 



