THE BUFFALO, &c. iqi 



fed. Domeftic oxen with bunches might efcape, 

 or be abandoned in the woods, where their po- 

 fterity would inherit the fame deformity, which, 

 inftead of difappcaring, would augment by the 

 abundance of food peculiar to all uncultivated 

 countries ; fo that this fecondary race would 

 fpread over all the defert lands of the North and 

 South, and pafs, like the other animals which 

 can fupport the rigours of cold, into the New 

 Continent. The indentity of the fpecies of the 

 bifon and aurochs is ftill farther confirmed from 

 this circumftance, that the bifons of North Ame- 

 rica have fo ftrong an odour of mufk., that they 

 have been called tnujk oxen by mod travellers * ; 

 and, at the fame time, we learn, from the tefti- 

 mony of fpeclators '(*, that the aurochs, or wild 



ox 



* Fifteen leagues from the river Danoife, is the river call- 

 ed Sea-ivolf, both in the neighbourhood of Hndfon's bay. In 

 this country, there is a fpecies of ox called the Mufk ex, from 



his ttronK odour of mufk, which, in certain feafons, renders 



i 



his flefh uneatable. Thefe animals have very fine wool, which 



is longer than that cf the Barbary flieep. I had fome of it 



fent me to France in the year 1708, of which I made ftock- 



ings, which were as fine as thofe of filk Thefe oxen, 



though fmaller than ours, have larger and longer horns. 



Their roots join on the top of the head, and defcend on the 



fide of the eyes as low as the throat; then the tips mount up 



in the form of a crefcent. I have feen two of them which. 



weighed together fixty pounds. Their legs are fo fhort, that 



the wool always trails on the ground where they walk, 



which renders them fo unfhapely, that it is difficult, at a di- 



ftance, to know at which end the head is placed ; HtJ}. de la. 



Nonvslle France, par le P. Charlevoix, ton:. 3. p. J 32. — See alfo 



Le Voyage de Robert Lade, torn. 2. p. 315. 



f Ephem. German, decad. 2. ana. 2. obf.-rv. 7. 



