THE LIVING WORLD. 
535 
The Caribou, or American Reindeer (. Rangifer caribou ), is a large animal, 
some three and a half feet high, but has never been domesticated. When 
chased in winter, it will seek a body of water, and sitting on its haunches will 
slide itself along the ice. The skin is its most valuable possession, so far as 
man is concerned, although it has a thin layer of fat which, being poured 
over pounded meat, makes “pemmican.” It runs in herds, which vary in size 
from a dozen to three hundred. It is trapped in two ways : First, a slab of 
ice is balanced on a pivot, so as to precipitate into a pit any unwary caribou 
that may step upon it; secondly, a herd is driven into a large inclosure, cut 
up into numerous alleys, each one of which is provided with a noose which 
strangles the deer as it moves about. 
The European Caribou is only a different species, whose description does 
not differ greatly from the above. 
The Barren Ground Caribou (. Rangifer grcenlandicus) is smaller, more 
graceful and larger horned. Its 
habitat is the American Arctic 
region. 
The Musk Deer ( Moschus 
moschiferus) is regarded as a 
primitive or undeveloped species 
of deer. It is about a foot and 
three-quarters in height, (meas¬ 
uring from the top of the 
shoulder), and about three feet 
in length. It has no horns or 
antlers, and its reddish-brown 
hair is sleek and short; its 
coloring becomes white on the 
belly. The male has glands 
on the thighs near the tail and 
on the posterior ventral part 
which secrete the article known 
to commerce as musk. Although 
the nature of the use of these 
glands to the deer is not known, their service to man as a contribution to 
his pharmacopoeia and to his perfumes is unquestionable. A single deer 
will yield about three drams, of musk, and this will sell in first hands for 
as much as a dollar a sac or pod. We have been told about the antiquity of 
the Chinese civilization, and one of our own poets has introduced us to the 
craftiness of the “Heathen Chinee.” Of course, with the luxury and increased 
knowledge of an old civilization comes corruption which must ever be the 
shadow cast by any virtue. Hence, while it may be regretted, it can hardly 
surprise us to know that the Chinese have been so clever and so persistent 
in their adulterations of musk, that a pure article is no longer to be found, 
except in the possession of the deer itself. Possibly the musk deer knows that 
a price has been set upon its head, for it is exceedingly shy, and though 
approaching human habitations, it does this like a thief in the night, solely 
with the intention of stealing sweet potatoes. It is, for the most part, captured 
only by trapping. 
