Anl'/rJoiir-  Pha0rm-  }       The  Chinese  Musk 
March,  1918.  ■> 
195 
About  one  half  of  the  total  output  stays  in  China  and  is  used 
especially  by  the  Cantonese  in  compounding  pills  that  form  the  best- 
known  remedy  in  the  Chinese  pharmacopoeia  for  Asiatic  cholera. 
The  Chinese  also  use  musk  to  keep  moths  out  of  furs  and  clothing, 
and  as  a  perfume,  the  odor  being  quite  popular  in  the  better  grades 
of  perfumery. 
Practically  all  of  China's  musk  comes  from  Tibet  through  the 
Szechwan  frontier,  the  chief  markets  being  Sungpan  and  Tachienlu, 
the  former  being  by  far  the  more  important.  Sometimes,  when  the 
road  from  Sungpan  to  Chengtu  is  unsafe,  owing  to  brigands,  part 
of  the  musk  will  be  taken  south  and  marketed  in  Tengyueh  to  go 
to  India.  This  happened  to  a  considerable  part  of  the  output  in 
191 5,  when  6,890  ounces  out  of  a  total  of  25,367  were  so  shipped. 
The  value  of  the  191 5  musk  crop  was  $266,000  gold.  In  1916  some 
25,160  ounces,  valued  at  $407,000  gold,  were  shipped.  Because  of 
its  commanding  position  in  the  perfume  industry  France  has  been 
the  largest  purchaser  of  China's  musk,  the  United  States  being  sec- 
ond; but  in  1915  the  United  States  forged  ahead  and  bought  more 
than  a  quarter  of  the  entire  output. 
Good  musk  is  bought  for  10  times  its  weight  in  silver  at  Sungpan, 
and  at  Chungking  for  18  to  25  times,  so  there  is  a  heavy  profit  some- 
where. Small  supplies  are  brought  out  to  various  points  along  the 
Lungan  road,  where  every  coolie  seems  to  have  some  about  him,  and 
the  inns  reek  with  the  sickly  smell.  The  musk  is  brought  down  in 
its  pod,  and  the  best  kind  is  recognized  by  a  nice  brown  color,  and  in 
its  pure  state  by  its  overpowering  stench ;  pods  with  grayish  or  dull- 
colored  musk  are  rejected.  It  is  retailed  by  one  one-hundredth  of 
an  ounce,  but  it  is  adulterated  more  than  any  other  article  in  the 
Chinese  market. 
By  far  the  largest  herds  of  musk  deer  are  to  be  found  on  the' 
southern  shores  of  the  Koko-Nor,  and  the  supply  of  musk  there  (at 
T'aochou)  is  larger  than  the  quantity  that  comes  through  Sungpan. 
In  fact,  great  quantities  of  musk  do  not  come  to  Sungpan  at  all,  but 
are  sent  east  to  Yuchow,  in  Honan,  where  a  fair  is  held  in  the  ninth 
and  tenth  moons,  many  of  the  Sungpan  traders  visiting  this  place. 
At  Tachienlu  musk  is  the  most  valuable  export,  practically  every 
hong  reeking  with  it,  and  nearly  all  the  Tibetans  who  come  from  the 
far  interior  bring  some  with  them.  The  price  of  medium  musk  there 
is  13  times  its  weight  in  silver. 
