inclined to rest a few minutes only, they bend their knees, and lower their bodies with great care, to prevent their load from falling off, or being deranged : when, however, they hear their conductor's whistle, they rise with equal precaution, and proceed on their journey. In going along in the day, they brouze wherever they find herbage, and generally spend the night in chewing the cud. If their masters continue to abuse them after they are determined not to rise, they are said sometimes to kill themselves, in their rage, by striking their heads alternately from right to left on the ground.*

When among their native mountains, they associate in immense herds in the highest and steepest parts, where they frequently climb rocks, along which no man would dare to follow them; and, while the rest of a herd feed, one of them is always stationed as a centinel on the point of some rock. When this animal observes any one approach, it gives a kind of neigh, and the herd, taking the alarm, run off with incredible speed. When they have gone to a considerable distance they stop, turn round, and gaze at their pursuers till they come near, and then they set off again. They out-run all the dogs, so that the inhabitants have no other mode of killing the wild animals than with guns.

In the year 1558 one of these aninals was brought alive from Peru into Holland.

The flesh is eaten, and said to be as good as mutton. The wool or hair has a strong and unpleasant

• Buff. Quad.

smell, but is of considerable use to the Indians, who weave it into cloth. Of the skin, which is very compact, they make shoes, and the Spaniards use it for their harness.

· Their growth is exceedingly quick; being capable of producing at three years old, and beginning to decay at twelve.

THE MUSK TRIBE.

THE animals of this tribe have no horns. In the lower-jaw are eight front-teeth; and in the upper-jaw two long tusks, one on each side, which project out of the mouth.

THE THIBETIAN MUSK.*

The present species, the principal one of the tribe, is destitute of horns. The ears are somewhat large, the neck thick, and the hair on the whole body long, upright, and thick set. Each hair is undulated, the tip ferruginous, the middle black, and the bottom cinereous. The limbs are very slender, and of a full black colour; and the tail is so short as to be scarcely visible. The length of the male is about three feet, and that of the female about two feet and a quarter; and the average weight is from twenty-five to thirty pounds.

The Thibetian Musk is a native of many parts of

* SYNONYMS. Moschus Moschiferus. Linn. -Musc. Buffon.Thibet Musk., Penn. -Shaw's Gen. Zool, ii. tab. 171.-Bery. Quad.

2.103.

Asia, and is found throughout the whole kingdom of Thibet. It lives retired among the highest and rudest mountains. Except in autumn, it is a solitary animal; but at this season large flocks collect in order to change their place, being driven southward by the approaching cold. During this migration the peasants lay in wait for them, and either take them in snares, or kill them with arrows and bludgeons. At these times they are often so meagre and languid from hunger and fatigue, as to be taken without much difficulty.

They are gentle and timid, possessing no weapons of defence except their tusks. Their activity is very great, and they are able to take astonishing leaps over the tremendous chasms of the rocks. They tread so lightly on the snow, as scarcely to leave a mark, while the dogs that are used in pursuing them, sink in, and are frequently obliged to desist from the chase. In a state of captivity they live but a very short time. They feed on various vege

tables of the mountains.

They are usually taken in snares, or fhot by crossbows placed in their tracks, with a string from the trigger for them to tread on and discharge. Sometimes they are shot with bows and arrows. Their chase is extremely laborious.

In an oval receptacle about the size of a small egg, is contained the well-known drug called musk. This hangs from the middle of the abdomen, and is peculiar to the male animal. A full-grown male will yield a drachm and a half, and an old one two drachms. The bag is furnished with two small orifices, the one naked, and the other covered with ob

long hairs. Gmelin tells us, that on squeezing this bag, he forced the musk through the apertures, in the form of a brown fatty matter. The hunters cut off the bag and tie it up for sale, but often adulterate the contents by mixing them with other matter to increase their weight. The musk is even frequently taken entirely out, and a composition of the animal's blood and liver, (for the musk has much the appearance of clotted blood) is inserted in its stead: but when the bags are opened the imposition may be immediately detected. The deceit, however, most commonly practised, is that of putting into the bags little bits of lead in order to augment the weight. The animals should be found here in great number, for Tavernier informs us, that in one journey he collected 7673 musk bags.

It is generally asserted, that when the musk-bág is first opened, so powerful an odour comes from it, that every person present is obliged to cover his mouth and nose with several folds of linen, and that, notwithstanding this precaution, the blood will frequently gush from the nose. When the musk is fresh, a very small quantity in a confined place is insupportable it causes giddiness in the head, and hemorrhages, which have sometimes proved fatal.

Besides being of use on account of the musk they produce, the skins of these animals, in many of the countries where they are found, are used as wintercloathing. The Russians scrape off the hair, and have a method of preparing the leather so as to render it as soft and shining as silk; this they adopt as part of their summer-dress.

THE DEER TRIBE.

THIS is an active tribe, inhabiting principally wild and woody regions. In their contentions, both among each other and with the rest of the animal creation, Deer not only use their horns, but also strike very furiously with their fore-feet. Some of the species are used by mankind for draught. The flesh of the whole tribe is wholesome, and that of some of the kinds, under the name of venison, is accounted particularly delicious.

The horns are solid and branched. They are renewed every year; and while young are covered with a skin, which is extremely vascular, and clothed with a fine velvet fur, that dries, shrivels, and falls off when the horns have attained their full size. There are eight front-teeth in the lower jaw. In general this tribe is destitute of canine-teeth, but sometimes a single one is found on each side in the upper-jaw.

THE ELK.*

The Elk, or Moose-deer, is found in Europe, America, and Asia, as far as Japan; but it is met with in greatest quantity in the northern parts of

* SYNONYMS.-Cervus alces. Linn-Mose Deer. Dudley-Moose Elk.Penn.-Elan, Buffon.Shaw's Gen. Zool. ii. tab. 174-175,-Bew. Quad. p. 108.