THE  MUSK-DEER. 
337 
may  be  picked  up.  Insects  and  maggots  also  leave  it  untouched. 
I  once  found  what  I  thought  was  a  newly  killed  musk-deer,  but 
on  examination  I  discovered  it  was  merely  the  skin  and  skeleton 
of  one,  which  from  its  dry  and  withered  state  must  have  been 
dead  some  months;  the  flesh  had  been  completely  eaten  away  by 
maggots,  but  the  musk-pod  was  entire. 
The  musk-pods  which  reach  the  market  through  the  hands  of 
the  native  hunters  are  generally  enclosed  in  a  portion  of  the  skin 
of  the  animal,  with  the  hair  or  fur  left  on  it.  When  they  have 
killed  a  musk-deer,  they  cut  round  the  pod,  and  skin  the  whole 
of  the  belly.  The  pod  comes  off  attached  to  the  skin,  which  is 
then  laid  with  its  fleshy  side  on  a  flat  stone  previously  heated 
in  the  fire,  and  thus  dried  without  singeing  the  hair.  The  skin 
shrinks  up  from  the  heat  into  a  small  compass,  and  is  then  tied 
or  stitched  round  the  pod,  and  hung  up  in  a  dry  place  until  quite 
hard.  This  is  the  general  method  of  preparing  them,  but  some 
put  the  pod  into  hot  oil  instead  of  laying  it  on  a  hot  stone,  but 
either  method  must  deteriorate  the  quality  of  the  musk,  as  it  gets 
either  completely  baked  or  fried.  It  is  best  both  in  appearance 
and  smell,  if  the  pod  is  at  once  cut  from  the  skin,  and  allowed 
to  dry  of  itself. 
The  musk  received  from  the  Puharries  is  greatly  adulterated, 
and  pods  are  often  made  altogether  counterfeit ;  and  as  they  are 
generally  sold  without  being  cut  open,  it  is  scarcely  possible  to 
detect  the  imposture  at  the  time.  I  have  often  seen  pods  offered 
for  sale  which  were  merely  a  piece  of  musk-deer  skin  filled  with 
some  substance,  and  tied  up  to  resemble  a  musk-pod,  with  a  little 
musk  rubbed  over  to  make  it  smell.  These  are  easy  to  detect, 
from  their  being  no  navel  on  the  skin,  it  being  cut  from  any  part 
of  the  body.  But  the  musk  is  sometimes  taken  out  of  real  pods, 
and  its  place  supplied  by  some  other  substance,  and  these  are 
difficult  to  detect  even  if  cut  open,  as  whatever  is  put  in  is  made 
to  resemble  musk  in  appearance,  and  a  little  genuine  added  makes 
it  smell  nearly  as  strong.  Some  have  only  a  portion  of  the  musk 
taken  out,  and  its  place  thus  supplied  ;  and  others  have  all  the 
musk  left  in,  but  something  added  to  increase  the  weight.  Even 
in  the  hills  where  it  is  produced,  so  little  do  the  generality  of  the 
people  know  of  musk,  that  I  have  often  seen  the  Puharries  about 
Gangoutrie  sell  to  the  pilgrims,  to  men  from  the  lower  hills,  and 
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