the hunters seek the animal at New Moon, at
which time the musk is secreted.

The description is good except as to the _four_ tusks, for the musk deer
has canine teeth only in the upper jaw, slender and prominent as he
describes them. The flesh of the animal is eaten by the Chinese, and in
Siberia by both Tartars and Russians, but that of the males has a strong
musk flavour.

The "immense number" of these animals that existed in the Himalayan
countries may be conceived from Tavernier's statement, that on one visit
to Patna, then the great Indian mart for this article, he purchased 7673
pods of musk. These presumably came by way of Nepal; but musk pods of the
highest class were also imported from Khotan via Yarkand and Leh, and the
lowest price such a pod fetched at Yarkand was 250 tankas, or upwards of
4_l._ This import has long been extinct, and indeed the trade in the
article, except towards China, has altogether greatly declined, probably
(says Mr. Hodgson) because its repute as a medicine is becoming fast
exploded. In Sicily it is still so used, but apparently only as a sort of
decent medical _viaticum_, for when it is said "the Doctors have given him
musk," it is as much as to say that they have given up the patient.

["Here Marco Polo speaks of musk; musk and rhubarb (which he mentions
before, Sukchur, ch. xliii.) are the most renowned and valuable of the
products of the province of Kansu, which comparatively produces very
little; the industry in both these articles is at present in the hands of
the Tanguts of that province [_Su chow chi_]." (_Palladius_, p. 18.)

Writing under date 15th February, 1892, from Lusar (coming from Sining),
Mr. Rockhill says: "The musk trade here is increasing, Cantonese and
Ssu-ch'uanese traders now come here to buy it, paying for good musk four
times its weight in silver (_ssu huan_, as they say). The best test of its
purity is an examination of the colour. The Tibetans adulterate it by
mixing tsamba and blood with it. The best time to buy it is from the
seventh to the ninth moon (latter part of August to middle of November)."
Mr. Rockhill adds in a note: "Mongols call musk _owo_; Tibetans call it
_latse_. The best musk they say is 'white musk,' _tsahan owo_ in Mongol,
in Tibetan _latse karpo_. I do not know whether white refers to the colour
of the musk itself or to that of the hair on the skin covering the musk
pouch." (_Diary of a Journey_, p. 71.)--H. C.]

Three species of t