634 



THE MUSK OX. 



the sides of the forehead, and are simply curved. The muzzle is covered with hair, with 

 the exception of a very slight line round the nostrils. 



This animal is an inhabitant of the extreme north of America, being seldom seen 

 south of the sixty-first degree of latitude, and ascending as high as the seventy-fifth. It 

 lives, in fact, in the same country which is inhabited by the Esquimaux, and is known to 

 them under the name of Oomingnoak. It is a fleet and active animal, and traverses with 

 such ease the rocky and precipitous ground on which it loves to dwell, that it cannot be 

 overtaken by any pursuer less swift than an arrow or a bullet. It is rather an irritable 

 animal, and becomes a dangerous foe to the hunters, by its habit of charging upon them 

 while they are perplexed amid the cliffs and crevices of its rocky home, thus often 



MUSK OX. Ov/bos moschatus. 



escaping unharmed by the aid of its quick eye and agile limbs. The hunters say that 

 it is rather a stupid animal in some matters, and that it will not run away at the report 

 of a gun, provided that it does not see the man who fired it, or perceive the smell of the 

 powder. They believe that the Musk Ox takes the flash and the report to be only a 

 species of thunder and lightning, and therefore does not think itself obliged to escape. 

 The flesh of this animal is very strongly perfumed with a musky odor, very variable in 

 its amount and strength. Excepting, however, a few weeks in the year, it is perfectly fit 

 for food, and is fat and well flavored. 



The Musk Ox is a little animal, but owing to the huge mass of woolly hair with which 

 it is thickly covered, appears to be of considerable dimensions. The color of this 

 animal is a yellowish-brown, deepening upon the sides. 



