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Showing posts from May, 2012

Musk deer

Musk-deer, or roe-buck, is a kind of a deer without horns, with hair of a blackish colour. It is in the mountains of Northern China that the musk-deer is generally found by hunters. Musk-deer is a precious wild animal, not only for the musk, but the body, which is in great esteem; The musk-bag is composed of a very thin skin, covered with hair extremely fine. The flesh is good to eat, and is even served up at the best tables. The flesh of serpents is the favorite and most common food of this roe-buck, who kills them with ease, however large or numerous; for no sooner does he come near than the serpent becomes overpowered with the scent of the musk; and so well is this fact known to the mountaineers, that when they go to cut wood or make charcoal in the mountains, they carry about their persons a few grains of this musk, and rest and sleep without fear from the venomous snakes, which might otherwise destroy them.