cientific travellers, a very large
addition will be made to the catalogue of ruminant animals. Nearly
every extensive valley or chain of the Asiatic mountains possesses some
species of the sheep or goat-tribe peculiar to itself, and differing
from all others of the same genus; and in ascending the stupendous
heights of the Himalayas you find that every stage of elevation has its
peculiar species. Some dwell in dense forests, others in those that are
thin and open. Some prefer the grassy slopes, while others affect the
barren ridges of rock. There are those that are found only upon the
very limits of vegetation, spending most of their lives within the
region of eternal snow. Among these are the famed ibex and the large
wild sheep known as the _Ovis ammon_.

There was none of the Himalayan animals that interested our travellers
more than the curious little creature known as the "musk-deer." This is
the animal from which the famous scent is obtained; and which is
consequently a much persecuted creature. It dwells in the Himalayan
Mountains, ranging from an elevation of about eight thousand feet to the
limits of perpetual snow, and is an object of the chase to the hunters
of these regions, who make their living by collecting the musk and
disposing of it to the merchants of the plains. The animal itself is a
small creature, less in size than our fallow-deer, and of a speckled
brownish grey colour, darker on the hind-quarters. Its head is small,
its ears long and upright, and it is without horns.

A peculiarity exists in the males which renders them easy to be
distinguished from other animals of the deer kind. They have a pair of
tusks in the upper jaw projecting downwards, each full three inches in
length, and about as thick as a goose's quill. These give to the animal
altogether a peculiar appearance. The males only yield the musk, which
is found in grains, or little pellets, inside a sac or pod in the skin,
situated near the navel; but what produces this singular substance, or
what purpose it serves in the economy of the animal, it is not easy to
say. It has proved its worst foe. But for the musk this harmless
little deer would be comparatively a worthless object of the chase; but
as it is, the valuable commodity has created for it a host of enemies,
who follow no other occupation but that of hunting it to the death.

The plant-hunters had several times seen musk-deer as they journeyed up
the mountain; but