T I B E T. 
501 
They have a small head, a thick and round hind quarter, no scut, and 
extremely delicate limbs. The greatest singularity in this animal, is 
the sort of hair with which it is covered, which is prodigiously copious, 
and grows erect all over the body, between two and three inches long, 
lying smooth only where it is short, on the head, legs, and ears. 
Upon examination, it partakes in its texture, less of the nature of hair 
than feathers; or rather, it resembles the porcupine's quill; yet, at the 
same time, it is thin, flexible, and not straight, but undulated. The 
colour, at the base, is white, in the middle black, and brown at the 
points. The musk is a secretion formed in a little bag, or tumor, re¬ 
sembling a wen, situated at the navel; and is found only in the male. 
The huntsmen, who sell it by weight, have a mode of adulterating it 
sometimes, before it is brought to market; which, I am informed, is 
detected by examining the texture of the musk. If it be brown and 
granulated, there is reason to suppose it sophisticated; but if black 
and homogeneous, divided in many parts by a thin cuticle, it may be 
relied upon as pure. They have another more expeditious mode of ascer¬ 
taining its quality, by running a sharp pointed instrument, or needle, 
through the musk. I am told that the method of adulterating it is, by 
injecting blood into it, while the bag is fresh. But as the musk deer a is 
here deemed the property of the state, and hunted only by the per¬ 
mission of government, of course, a great part of the musk passes 
through the hands of its agents; and all that bears the Regent’s seal, 
may be looked upon as genuine. 
* The musk deer, in the language of Tibet, is called La; and the vascular covering 
of the rnusk, Latcha. 
