Page:Thirty-five years in the East.djvu/96

56 down, and our hounds bit it so violently that it was nearly killed. Having taken it home, I was advised by General Avitabile to cut off the musk-bag, which I did, and keep to this day; it being considered that unless that operation is performed previously to the death of the animal, the useful substance of the musk-deer will entirely disappear; the rest of the animal was regarded as useless, which I now regret, believing that it was the most valuable specimen I ever met with, as I have never heard of such animals being found in the plains of India. Those to whom I showed the mu&k-bag in Europe, suggested that the animal had found his way there from the Himalaya, and it might have been so; but the odour and appearance of the musk of Cashmere and Thibet is quite different. The exterior of the bag of this animal resembles that of the musk of China, it has- smooth, soft, and short hair ; but the interior is a yellowish brown mass, as hard as bees-wax, whereas, the Chinese musk is of a reddish-brown colour, and in grains of a friable nature.Without having prepared the bag, I put it into an iron box, and found that in the rainy season the insects had destroyed the external hair, without having- touched the internal parts. The musk has, like that of China, a strong, agreeable scent.

I thought that where one animal was found, more of the same race ought to exist, but I could not purchase any of a similar description. I now regret not having examined the hole where the precious animal was caught, as its companion might have been there, neither did I preserve the skin. Still I hope that the publication of this incident will induce English sportsmen in India to try to obtain the prize which escaped me, although the animal must be very rare, as neither the native physicians nor the druggists possess any knowledge of it. When in search of them, it ought to be considered that these interesting creatures are shy, prefersolitude, and live in copses, where their holes are made deep in the ground, beneath bushes, and thus they are saved from total extermination. Many naturalists are of opinion that