602 MUSK OXEN IN CAPITVITY. 



and its flesh is very iiiucli esteemed ])y the fur traders, Indians, and 

 Eskimos. The English naturalist. Pennant, pul)Iished a xerj correct 

 description and picture of the animal in his work Arctic Zoology 

 (1T84-1787), l)ut there had previously been published quite a good pic- 

 ture in a (xerman illustrated work. Die Sfiugethiere in Abbildungen 

 nach der Natur, Erlangen, 1778. The short, stubbed build of the ani- 

 mal, its white legs, thickly covered with hair, its square rump, the 

 light spot on the back, its Aviiitish muzzle covered with hair, as well 

 as the strong horns characteristic of the male, and which in adult ani- 

 mals reach down toward the ground, ai'e there conspicuously shown. 

 The curvature of the horns is, however, not quite accurate. Cer- 

 tainly the model for the drawing was only a stufl'ed one; yet natural- 

 ists had the opportunity of o])serving the living animal in its native 

 home, first in the numerous polar expeditions which had for their aim 

 the discovery of the '"Northwest Passage,"" and then in those which 





Fig. 1.— Sketch of a musk ox in the year 1778. 



were sent out later to nrap the lands about the north pole and to reach 

 the pole if possil^Ie. 



The lirst polar expeditions that went through Baffins Bay found 

 both sides of Smiths Sound — that separates Grinnell Land from north 

 Greenland — inhalnted l)v musk oxen. 



When Peary reached, with sledges, the north coast of Greenland and 

 proved that it was a large island he likewise found musk oxen there. 

 In the yeai" 1869-70 the German expedition under Koldewey found 

 them in east Greenland, although not farthei" south than 73^ north 

 latitude, and in greater numbers northward as far as 77'. 



Later, in the year 1892, the Ryders expedition met with them in 

 Scoresbys Sound at about 71-, and farther south than that they have 

 not l)een seen." Professor Nathorst notes, however, that neither 



"Note by Tkaxslator. — The writer doubtless refers here to their southern range 

 in Greenland. On the continent thev range as far south as 60°. 



