200 
TIBET. 
great influence among the herdsmen. The musk deer too, whieh pro¬ 
duce a valuable article of revenue, are in great abundance in the vicinity 
of these mountains. This animal is observed to delight in the most 
intense cold, and is always found in places bordering on snow. Two 
long curved tusks, proceeding from the upper jaw, and directed down¬ 
wards, seem intended principally to serve him for the purpose of dig¬ 
ging roots, which are said to be his usual food; yet it is possible they 
may also be weapons of offence. Mr. Hastings had once in his pos¬ 
session a beautiful deer, of a different species, but armed with teeth of 
the same construction and position, with which he wounded every 
other kind of deer in the same inclosure with him; rising on his hind 
legs, and striking downwards. He was smaller than a common goat, 
yet had scored deep gashes in the tough skin of a Ghouz, which is the 
largest species of stag known in India. 
I had a great desire to send specimens of these animals into Bengal; 
i 
but I was discouraged by the reports I heard, that numerous attempts 
had been already made in Tibet, to convey them alive to Mr. Hastings, 
one of which only had succeeded. I was moreover assured, that, when 
separated from its own climate, and its native wilds, the life of the 
musk deer was always of short duration, and that it was, in fact, inca¬ 
pable of being domesticated; or else its odour, for which it is now 
i t 
persecuted, might probably be obtained, like that of the civet, without 
the destruction of its life. 
They are about the height of a moderately sized hog, which they 
resemble much, in the figure of the body; but they are still more 
like the bog deer, so termed in Bengal, from the same similitude. 
