Chapter 7

THE CONDOMA.

The Marquis de Marigny, who embraces every opportunity of encouraging the arts and sciences, shewed me in his cabinet the head of an animal, which, at first sight, I imagined tobelong to a large bubalus. It resembled those of our largest stags; but instead of solid horns, like those of the stag, it had two large and hollow ones with a ridge, like those of the he-goat, and with double flexions, like those of the antelope. In examining the royal cabinet for what might be relative to this animal, we found two horns; the first without any mark or name, came from his Majesty’s wardrobe; the second was given to me in 1760 by M. Baurhis, commissary of the Marines, with the name ofcondomaof the Cape of Good Hope affixed to it. This name we have adopted, as the animal which it denotes has never before been described nor denominated.

By the length, thickness, and, above all, the double flexion of the horns, the condoma approaches very near thestrepsicerosof Caius; the shape and contours of the horns are exactly the same, and from which it seems reasonable to presume that they are the same animal, especially if we attend to the following reflections: first, Caius was evidently deceived in considering this animal as the strepsiceros of the ancients; for the strepsiceros of the ancients is certainly the antelope, whose head is very different from that of the stag; while Caius affirms, that the head of his strepsiceros is like that of the stags, thereforehis strepsiceros is not the same as that of the ancients. Secondly, the horns of the animal Caius describes, are thick, more than three feet in length, covered with rugosities, and not with rings or tubercles; while those of the strepsiceros of the ancients, or antelope, are much thinner and shorter, and are furnished with rings and tubercles. Thirdly, although the horns of the condoma, which is in the Marquis de Marigny’s cabinet, as well as those which came from the wardrobe of the king, have been polished and used, it is, nevertheless, plainly perceivable, that they never had rings; this is farther demonstrated by the horns M. Baurhis gave to me, which had never been polished, and yet it was rough, like the horns of the he-goat, and not annulated like those of the antelope; besides, Caius himself says, that the horns of his strepsiceros had only rugosities, therefore his strepsiceros is not the same as that of the ancients, but the animal here spoken of, and which, in fact, is furnished with every character Caius has given to that which he describes.

In looking over the works of travellers for those marks which might have an affinity with the remarkable size of the horns of this animal, we can find none that have a nearer relationto it than those of the animal mentioned by Kolbe, under the name of thewild goatof the Cape of Good Hope. “This goat, says he, to which the Hottentots have not as yet given a name, and which I call the wild goat, is remarkable in many respects; it is about the size of a large stag; its head is very handsome, ornamented with two smooth crooked and pointed horns, about three feet long, and at their extremities about two feet asunder.” These characters appear perfectly to agree with the animal in question; but having seen no more than the head, we cannot affirm that the rest of Kolbe’s descriptions equally agrees with it; we, therefore, can only presume it as a probability, which requires confirmation by future observations. Kolbe remarks, that “All along the back there runs a white stripe, which ends at the insertion of the tail; another of the same colour crosses this at the bottom of the neck, which it entirely surrounds; there are two more which surround the body, the one behind the fore legs and the other before the hind ones. The colour of the rest of the body is grey, with some reddish spots, except the belly, which is white; it has also a long grey beard, and its legs, though long, are well proportioned.”

Engraved for Barr’s Buffon

FIG. 155.Nanguer.

FIG. 156.Guib.

THE GUIB.

The Guib (fig. 156.) is an animal, which, though not noticed by any naturalist or traveller, is very common in Senegal, from whence M. Adanson brought over some of their skins. It resembles the gazelles, especially the nanguer, in the size and shape of its body, in the fineness of its legs, in the form of its head and muzzle, in the eyes and ears, in the length of its tail, and by the want of a beard but every gazelle, especially the nanguer, has the colour of the belly white, while the breast and belly of the guib are of a deep brown. It also differs from the gazelles in the horns, which are smooth, without annular prominences, and have two longitudinal ridges, the one above and the other underneath, forming a spiral twist from the base to the point; they are also a little compressed. In these particulars the guib is more like the goat than the gazelle, nevertheless it is neither the one nor the other, but rather an intermediate species. It is also remarkable for white stripeson a brown ground, that are disposed along and across the animal’s body, as if it were covered with a harness. It is a gregarious animal, and they are found in numerous herds in the plains of Podor.

THE GRIM.

This animal is only known to naturalists by the name ofGrimm, or theWild Goat of Grimmius; and which, as we were not acquainted with the name it bears in its own country, we shall adopt. We find a figure of this animal in the German Ephemerides, which has been copied in the Academical Collection. Dr. Herman Grimmius was the first who mentioned this animal, and what he said of it has been copied by Ray, and afterwards by all the nomenclators. Although his description[X]is incomplete,he denotes two characters so remarkable, that we can have no doubt that the head of an animal of Senegal, given us by M. Adanson, belongs to the goat of Grimmius. The first is a very deep cavity under each eye, so deep, indeed, as to leave but a thin partition of bone between the cavities and the partition of their nose; the second is a tuft of hair standing upright on the top of the head. These are sufficient to distinguish the grimm from every other goat or gazelle. It resembles both, however, not only in the shape of its body, but even in its horns, which are annulated towards the base, and have longitudinal streaks like those of the gazelles; at the same time, they are very short, and bend backwards in a horizontal direction, like the small African goat before mentioned. Besides, from being much smaller, and from having short horns, we are almost led to conclude that this animal forms the shade between the goat and small antelopes.

[X]This animal, on the back and neck, is of a dark ash colour, with a white belly, and is about a foot and a half in height; on the top of its head between the horns is a tuft of black hair, and between each eye and the nostrils, there is a cavity filled with a yellow humour, oily, and viscid, which has some resemblance to castor, and musk, and fills again upon the cavities being emptied.Grimmius.

There is some reason to think, that the male grimm is alone furnished with horns; for the individual of which Dr. Grimmius has given the description and figure, had no horns: and the head which M. Adanson has given us was, on the contrary, ornamented with two, very short, and almost concealed by the hair, but yet sufficiently visible not to escape the notice ofthe observer; besides, we shall find, in the history of the chevrotains or small antelopes, that in the chevrotain of Guinea, the male only has horns, whence it is presumable, that it is the same with the grimm species, which in every respect approaches nearer the chevrotain than any other animal.

SUPPLEMENT.

In the year 1777, M. Vosmaër published a description of this animal, which he calls theSmall Beautiful Buck of Guinea, and from whom we have extracted the following account. “This was one of the most beautiful animals I ever saw; it was sent from Guinea with thirteen others of both sexes, but twelve of them died in their voyage to Holland, and those two which survived were males; these were put into the menagerie of the Prince of Orange, and one of them died the following winter, 1764. They are remarkable timid animals, and are much frightened at any noise, especially at thunder. When they are suddenly surprised, they express their fear by whistling strongly with their nose. The one now living, (in 1766) though very wild at first, is now so familiar, that upon holding a piece of bread tohim, and calling him by the name they have given him oftetje, he will not only approach, but allow himself to be stroaked. He is a particularly clean animal, and will not suffer the smallest piece of dirt to remain on any part of his body, but is constantly scratching himself with his hind feet. He is very active, and when standing still, keeps one of his fore-legs rather in a bent position, which gives him a graceful appearance. He eats bread, rye, carrots, is fond of potatoes, and is a ruminating animal. His horns are rather large in proportion to his size, and he has a small quantity of hair between them which he rises to a point. He is about the size of a young kid of two months old, and his limbs are extremely well proportioned. His head somewhat resembles that of a roe-buck; his nose is black and naked, but always moist; his upper lip appears as if divided; he has no beard but a kind of small whiskers on the sides, and a wart covered with hair under his chin; his horns are black, about three inches long, quite straight, and end with a sharp point; they are furnished with three rings, which rise a little backward; from the black tuft between the horns, there is a stripe of that colour down to the nose; his ears are large, with some shorthairs on the insides, and on the tops, but all the other parts of them are black and naked; the eyes are large, and of a deep brown, between the eyes and nose there are black cavities, from the middle of which a viscid gummy humour exudes, that soon becomes hard and black, but I could never perceive that it contained that odour which Dr. Grimmius and those who have followed him, describe it to possess; the upper part of the neck and the head are of a yellowish grey, the back black, the sides a bright brown, the belly grey, and the limbs white as far as his knees; his legs have a black band, and the hair becomes blackish towards the hoofs; he had no heels, his feet were cloven, he had beautiful black pointed hoofs, and his tail was very short and white, with a black band on the upper part.”

THE CHEVROTAINS.

We have given the name ofChevrotain(tragulus) to the small animals of the warm regions of Africa and Asia, which almost every traveller has mentioned by the denomination of thelittle stag, orlittle hind. In fact,the chevrotain is a miniature resemblance of the stag, from the shape of its muzzle, lightness of its body, shortness of tail, and form of its legs; but differs greatly in size, the largest never exceeding that of the hare. Some of them are entirely without horns, and those which have any, are hollow, annulated, and nearly resemble those of the gazelles. Their small cloven foot, is also more like that of the gazelle than of the stag; and they differ both from the gazelle and the stag, by not having any depressions or hollows under their eyes: in that particular they approach the goat, but in reality they are neither stags, gazelles, nor goats, but constitute one or more distinct species. Seba gives the figures and descriptions of five chevrotains. The first he calls thelittle red Guinea kind without horns; the second,the fawn,or the young delicate stag of Africa; the third,the little young stag of Guinea; the fourth,the little red and white hind of Surinam; and the fifth,the red-haired African stag. Of these five chevrotains, the first, second, and third, are evidently the same animal; the fifth, which is larger than the three first, and whose hair is much stronger, and of a deep yellow, seems to be only a variety of the first; the fourth, which theauthor mentions as an animal of Surinam, appears to be only a second variety of this species, which is found only in Africa and the southern parts of Asia; and I am greatly inclined to think that Seba was misinformed, when he says this animal came from Surinam. Every traveller, who speaks of these little stags, mentions them as being found in Senegal, Guinea, and the East Indies; but not one affirms that he has seen them in America; and if the spotted chevrotain which Seba speaks of, did really come from Surinam, we must presume that it had been transported from Guinea, or from some other southern province of the old continent. But there appears to be a second species of chevrotain, different from all those we have mentioned, which seem to be only simple varieties of the first. This second species has small horns, not more than an inch in length, and the same in circumference: these horns are hollow, black, somewhat crooked, very sharp at the points, and surrounded at the bottom with two or three transverse rings. We have seen the feet and one of the horns of this animal in the royal cabinet, which sufficiently demonstrate it is either a chevrotain or a very small gazelle. Kolbe, speaking of this animal, says, it has horns like those of the stag,and that the branches were in proportion to their age; this is an evident error, which a single inspection of the horns will clearly prove.

These animals are of an elegant make, and their limbs finely proportioned for their size. But though they leap and bound with prodigious swiftness, yet, apparently, they cannot continue it long, for the Indians often hunt and frequently knock them down with their sticks: they are greatly sought after on account of the superior excellence of their flesh.

By comparing the different testimonies of travellers it appears, first, that the chevrotain without horns is peculiar to the East Indies; secondly, that the one with horns is the chevrotain of Senegal, and which is calledgueveiby the natives; thirdly, that only the malegueveiis furnished with horns; fourthly, that the chevrotain marked with white spots, and which Seba says comes from Surinam, is, on the contrary, a native of the East Indies, especially of Ceylon, where it is calledmemina, (fig. 158.) and we must therefore, conclude, that there are but two kinds of chevrotains, namely, thememina, (fig. 157.) or the Indian chevrotain without horns; and theguevei, or Guinea chevrotain with horns; that the five speciesspoken of by Seba are only varieties of the memina; and that the smallest kind, which in Senegal is calledguevei-kaior, is only a variety of the guevei.

These little animals can only live in excessive hot climates; they are so exceedingly delicate that it is with the greatest difficulty they are transported into Europe alive, where they perish in a short time. They are gentle, familiar, and very beautiful. They are, unquestionably, the smallest of all cloven-footed animals. According to this character of being cloven footed, they should not bring forth many young; but if we reason from their small size they should produce several at a litter. As to the fact on this point we must wait until opportunity is procured to make the observation; we are inclined to think they bring forth but one or two at a time, like the gazelles, roe-bucks, &c. but possibly they produce more frequently, for they are exceedingly numerous in India, Java, Ceylon, Senegal, Congo, and in every other country that is excessively hot, but are not to be found in America, nor in any of the temperate climates of the old continent.

Engraved for Barr’s Buffon

FIG. 159.Cariacou.

FIG. 158.Cariacou of Ceylon.FIG. 157.Memina.

THE MAZAMES.

Mazame, in the Mexican language, was the name of the stag, or rather a generic name, including the whole race of stags, fallow-deer, and roe-bucks. Hernandes, Recchi, and Fernandes, who have transmitted this name to us, distinguish two species of mazames, both common in Mexico and New Spain. The first and largest, to which they give the simple name ofmazame, has horns like those of the roe-buck of Europe, that is, about six or seven inches in length, with the extremities divided into two points, and a single antler. The second, calledtemamaçame, is much less, and has but a single horn, and without any antlers. These two animals seem to be roe-bucks, the first being the same species as the European roe-buck, and the second only a variety of it. It also appears, that these mazames and temamaçames of Mexico are the same as thecuguacu-apara, and thecuguacu-étéof Brasil, and that in Cayenne the first is calledcariacou, (fig. 157.)or the forest hind; the second,the small cariacou, orthe hind of the marshes. Though we are the first who have pointed out these relations, yet we should not have presumed that there were either difficulties or doubts on this subject, if Seba had not mentioned the mazame and the temamaçame as two different animals: they are not roe-bucks with solid and branched horns, but gazelles with hollow and wrinkled ones: they are not animals of New Spain, as this author describes them, but natives of Africa. These errors of Seba have been adopted by most authors who have written since. They have not suspected that the animals mentioned by Seba, under the names of mazame and temamaçame, were the same as those mentioned by Hernandes, Recchi, and Fernandes. The confusion of the names has been followed by a confusion of the animals, and, in consequence, some naturalists have indicated these animals by the name of chevrotains, and others by that of gazelles, or goats. It appears that Linnæus suspected this error, for he has not adopted it. He has placed the mazame in the list of stags, and has thought, as we do, that the Mexican mazame is the same animal as the cuguacu of Brasil.

To demonstrate what we have advanced, we will suppose that there were neither gazelles, nor chevrotains, in New Spain, or in any other part of America, and that all those, as well as goats, which are at present there, have been carried from the old continent; that the true mazame of Mexico is the same animal as the cuguacu-apara of Brasil; that the namecuguacuis pronouncedcouguacou; and that, by corruption, this animal is calledcariacouat Cayenne, from whence we had a living one sent us by this name ofcariacou. We shall now endeavour to find out what species of animals these may be to which Seba has applied the names mazame and temamaçame, for to destroy an error it is not sufficient to reject it, but we should also explain the cause and demonstrate the effects.

The gazelles and chevrotains inhabit only the hottest countries of the Old World; they cannot exist in temperate climates, and still less in those that are cold. They could not, therefore, have ever frequented the northern countries, and have passed, by that means, from one continent to the other; nor have any travellers or historians of the New World, ever pretended to have seen them in that part of the globe. On the contrary, stags and roe-bucks,which inhabit cold and temperate climates, might have passed over the northern lands, and therefore are met with in both continents. We have observed, in our history of the stag, that the Cardian stag is the same as that of Europe; that he is only smaller, and has some slight variations in the shape of his horns and the colour of his hair. We may add, to what has been already said, that in America there are as many varieties among stags as in Europe, notwithstanding which they are of the same species. One of these varieties is the Corsican stag, which is smaller and browner than the common kind. We have also mentioned white stags, and hinds, and have said, that this colour proceeds from their domestic state; this kind is also found in America, as well as our common and small brown stags. The Mexicans, who keep these white stags in their parks, have denominated themRoyal Stags. It is a native of Germany, and commonly called theStag of Ardennes; andBrandhirts, by the Germans: it is at least as big as the large French stags, but differs from them by several particular characters. Its coat is thicker, and of a lighter colour under its belly: its throat and neck is furnished with long hairs, like the he-goat, which hascaused both ancients and moderns to give it the name oftragelaphus, orstag-like goat. There are also a great number of roe-bucks in America: we are only acquainted with two varieties in Europe, the red and the brown; the latter are smaller than the former, but they perfectly resemble each other. The mazame of Mexico, the cuguacu-apara of Brasil, and the cariacou, or forest hind of Cayenne, entirely resemble our red roe-bucks. Comparing the descriptions given of them is a sufficient proof, that all these names denote the same animal. But the temamaçame, which we suppose to be the cuguacu-été of Brasil, the small cariacou of Cayenne may be a variety different from those of Europe. The temamaçame is less, and whiter on the belly than the mazame, in the same manner as our brown roe-buck has a whiter belly, and is smaller than our red one; it seems also to differ by the horns, which is single and without antlers in the figure given by Recchi; but if we consider that our roe-bucks, and stags, have no antlers in the first, and sometimes even in the second year of their age, we shall be inclined to think, that Recchi’s temamaçame was too young to have antlers: these two animals, therefore, appear to be only simple varieties in the roe-buck species.

It now remains to enquire what these two animals, mentioned by Seba, by the false names ofmazameandtemamaçamereally are. The bare inspection of the figures, independently of his description, demonstrates, that these animals belong to the goats or gazelles, and not to the stags or roe-bucks. The want of a beard, and the shape of the horns, prove, they are not goats, but gazelles; and, by comparing Seba’s figures with the gazelles which we have described, I found that his pretendedtemamaçame of New Spain, is thekob, orlittle brown cow of Senegal. The figure, colour, and size of the horns are the same; the colour of the hair is also the same, and differs from that of other gazelles, by not being white, but yellow under the belly and upon the flanks. With respect to the pretended mazame, although it resembles the gazelles in general, yet it differs in particular from all those we have before enumerated; but we saw in M. Adanson’s cabinet, where he has collected the most rare productions of Senegal, a stupid animal which we callnagor, by reason of the resemblance of its horns with those of the nanguer. This animal is found in the neighbouring island of Goree, from whence he was sent to M. Adanson by M. Andriot, and possessesall the characters which Seba gives to his pretended mazame; its body is of a pale red, and its belly is not white, like the other gazelles; it is of the size of the roe-buck; its horns are not six inches long, almost smooth, and slightly bent forwards, but not so much as those of the nanguer. Therefore this animal, mentioned by Seba, by the name ofmazame, orAmerican stag, is only an African goat, or gazelle, which we have added here by the name of thenagorto the twelve other gazelles, whose history we have already given.

THE COUDOUS.

The class of ruminating animals is, of all others, the most numerous and the most varied. It contains, as we have seen, a great number of species, and, perhaps, a still greater number of distinct races, or constant varieties. Notwithstanding all our enquiries, and the considerable details into which we have been obliged to enter, we freely confess, that we havenot exhausted the subject, and that there still remain even very remarkable animals which we are only acquainted with by imperfect fragments, and are unable to ascertain with precision to what class they belong. For example, in the very great collection of horns in the royal cabinet, as well as those dispersed in private museums, each of which, after much labour, and a multiplicity of comparisons, we have referred to the animal it belonged; there still remained one without label, or any mark affixed to it, absolutely unknown. This horn is large, almost straight, and composed of a very thick black substance; it is not solid, like that of the stag, but resembles that of the ox. From the base to beyond the middle of the horn is a thick ridge, raised about an inch; and although the horn is straight, this prominent ridge makes a spiral turn and a half in the interior part, and is wholly effaced in the superior part of the horn, which terminates in a point. This horn, which differs from every other, seems to have the nearest affinity to that of the buffalo; but we were ignorant of the name of the animal to which it belonged, and it was not till hunting through the different cabinets that we found in that of M. Dupleix part of a head adorned with two similar horns,and to which was affixed a label with these words: “the horns of an animal nearly like a horse, of a greyish colour; with a mane on the fore part of its head like a horse; it is called at Pondicherrycoësdoës,which should be pronouncedcoudous.” This little discovery gave me great pleasure; but I have not been able to meet with this namecoësdoës, orcoudous, in the writings of any traveller; the label only has informed us that it is of a large size, and to be met with in the hottest countries of Asia. The buffalo is of the same climate, and has likewise a mane; it is true his horns are crooked and flat, while those of the coudous are round and straight, which, together with the colour, are sufficient indications of the difference of these two animals; for the buffalo has a black skin and hair, and, according to the label, the hair of the other is grey. These relations suggest others: the travellers in Asia speak of the large buffaloes of Bengal, of red buffaloes, and of the grey buffaloes of the Mogul empire, which are callednil-gauts; the coudous may possibly be one or other of these animals, and the travellers into Africa, where the buffalo is as common as in Asia, more precisely mention a species of buffalo, calledpacassaat Congo, which from their indicationsseems to be the coudous. “In the route from Louanda to the kingdom of Congo[Y], we perceived two pacassas, which are animals resembling buffaloes, and which roar like lions. The male and female go always together; they are white, spotted with red and black; their ears are about half an ell long, and their horns are perfectly straight: they neither fly at the sight of the human species nor do any injury, but only stare at them as they pass along." We have before mentioned, that the animal, called at Congo, empacassa, or pacassa, appeared to be the buffalo. It is, in fact, a kind of buffalo, but differs from it by the shape of the horns and the colour of the hair; in one word, the pacassa is the coudous, which perhaps forms a separate species from that of the buffalo, and perhaps, also, may only be a variety of it[Z].

[Y]Relation de Congo, par les PP. Michael-Ange de Galline et Denys de Charly de Plaisance, Capuchins.

[Z]The coudous is from five to eight feet in height. The body is of a bluish ash colour, with a black mane. The head is reddish; the tail is black at its extremity, and terminated by a little tuft. Both sexes have horns. They are of a deep black colour, and two feet in length. The Hotentots make tobacco pipes of them. Their flesh is excellent.

THE MUSK.

To finish the history of goats, gazelles, chevrotains, and other animals of this genus, which are all found in the old continent, it only remains to give that of the Musk, an animal as famous as it is unknown. This is the animal which produces the real musk; all modern naturalists, and the greatest part of travellers through Asia, have mentioned it, some by the name of a stag, a roe-buck, or a musk-goat, and others have considered it as a large chevrotain. It seems indeed to be of an ambiguous nature, participating of all the above animals, yet at the same time we can assert, that its species is different from all other quadrupeds. It is about the size of a small roe-buck, but its head is without horns, and by this character it resembles thememinaorchevrotainof India. It has two great canine teeth or tusks in the upper jaw, and by this it approaches thechevrotainof India; but what distinguishes the musk from all other animals is a kind of bagabout two or three inches in diameter, which grows near the navel, and in which the liquor, or rather the greasy humour called musk is secreted, and which differs from that of the civet both in smell and consistence. Neither the Greeks nor Romans mention the musk animal. The first that noticed it were the Arabs. Gesner, Aldrovandus, Kircher, and Boym have given more extended accounts of this animal; but Grew is the only person who has made an exact description of it, from a skin which was preserved in the cabinet of the Royal Society of London. His description is as follows:—“The musk stag is about three feet six inches in length, from the head to the tail; the head is about half a foot long; the neck seven or eight inches; the fore part of the head three inches broad, and the nose sharp like that of a greyhound; the ears are erect, like those of a rabbit, and about three inches long; the tail is not above two inches; the fore-legs, including feet and thighs, are thirteen or fourteen inches long; he is cloven-footed, armed on his fore-feet behind and before with two horny substances: the hind feet were wanting. The hair of the head and legs about half an inch long, and very fine; thicker under the belly, and an inch and a half in length; on theback and crupper they are three inches, and three or four times thicker than the bristles of a hog, of course more so than that of any other animal. It is brown and white alternately, from the root to the point; on the head and thighs it is brown; under the belly and tail white; a little curled, especially on the back and belly; it is very soft, and has the appearance of being something between a common hair and a quill; on each side of the lower jaw, under the corners of the mouth, there is a small tuft of thick hair, which is short and hard, about three-fourths of an inch long, and somewhat resembling the bristles of a hog. The bladder, or bag, which contains the musk is about three inches long, two broad, swells out from the belly about an inch and a half, and stands near as much before the groin. The animal has twenty-six teeth, sixteen in the lower jaw, of which the eight in front are incisive, the four grinders behind, are rugged and continuous, and as many similar grinders in the upper jaw. There is also a tusk about two inches and a half long on each side in the upper jaw, which terminate in the form of a hook, not round but flat, and have a sharp edge behind. They have no horns, &c.[AA]”

[AA]Grew’s Museum.

In 1681, a year after Grew’s publication, Luc Schrockius printed a history of this animal at Vienna, in which we do not find any thing very exact, nor absolutely new. We shall, however, select such facts as may be collected from it, and which agree with those in other authors, and especially in the works of the more modern travellers. We have been under the necessity of contenting ourselves with collecting what has been said of this animal, which we have never seen, and which we have not been able to procure. By Grew’s description, which is the only authentic work we can rely on, it appears, that the hair of this animal is long and rough, the muzzle pointed, and the tusks somewhat like those of the hog: in these characters it approaches the boar kind, or perhaps still more the babiroussa, which the naturalists have denominated theIndian boar; and which, though resembling the hog in many characters, like the musk animal, he is much smaller, and has longer and slender legs, like those of the stag, or roe-buck. On the other hand, the American hog, which we have calledpecari, has a bag, or cavity, on its back, containing an odoriferous humour. The musk animal has a similar bag, not on his back, but under the belly. In general, thoseanimals which produce odoriferous liquors, as the badger, the bearer, the pecari, the musk-rat, the civet, the zibet, are not of the stag or goat genus: thus we might be tempted to think, that the musk animal is nearer the hog kind, of which he has the tusks, if he had, at the same time, incisive teeth in his upper jaw; but his deficiency in that respect, makes him come nearer the ruminating animals, and especially the chevrotain, which ruminates, though it has no horns; but all these external indexes can only furnish us with conjectures. It is the inspection of the internal parts alone that can decide the nature of this animal, which is not even as yet perfectly known; nor have I placed him after the goats and antelopes from any conviction or even reason to conclude he belongs to those species.

Marco Polo, Barbosa, Thevenot, and Marini, are all more or less deceived in the characters they have given of this animal[AB]. The only true point in which they agree is, that the musk is formed in a bag, or tumour, near the navel, and it appears by their testimonies, as well as those of other travellers, that the male only produces the musk; that the femalehas a similar bag near the navel, but that the humour which gathers there, has not the same smell; that this tumour of the male is only filled with musk at the rutting-time, and that at other times the quantity of this humour is less, and the odoriferous scent much weaker.

[AB]There exists in fact, says Sonnini, a variety of the musk animal which is entirely white. It is however very rare. Pallas saw a female of this variety which came from the country of the Abakanks.See Pallas, vol. iv. p. 14.

In respect to the musk itself, its essence, or pure substance, is, perhaps, as little known as the nature of the animal which produces it. All travellers agree, that the musk is always mixed and adulterated with blood, or some other drugs, by those who sell it. The Chinese not only increase the quantity by this mixture, but they endeavour likewise to increase the weight, by incorporating with it lead very finely ground. The purest musk, and that which is the most sought after, even by the Chinese themselves, is that which the animal deposits upon trees or stones, against which he rubs himself when the quantity becomes too great, or renders the pouch uneasy. That which is found in the bag is seldom so good, because it is not fully ripe, or because perhaps it is only in their rutting season that it acquires all its strength and smell; and that it is at this time the animal endeavours to disburthen himself of a matter which then causes violent itchings, and possibly some degree of pain.

Chardin and Tavernier have both describedthe means, which the eastern nations make use of to adulterate the musk[AC]: the merchants must necessarily increase the quantity of it beyond conception, since in one year Tavernier purchased 1673 bags, which supposes an equal number of animals to have been taken. But as this animal is no where domestic, and as the species is confined to some few provinces of the East, it is impossible to be sufficiently numerous to produce so great a quantity of this matter. We cannot, therefore, doubt the greatest part of these pretended bags, or bladders, are only artificial ones made of the skin of the other parts of the animal, and filled with its blood, mixed with a very small quantity of true musk. Its scent is, in fact, the strongest of any yet known; a single grain is sufficient to perfume a great quantity of other matter; the odour of the smallest particle will perfumea considerable space; and the perfume itself is so permanent, that at the end of several years it does not seem to have lost much of its power.[AD]

[AC]It is said that when the animal is taken, and the musk bag first opened, that the odour is so strong the hunter is obliged to have several folds of linen over his nose and mouth, and that even then it sometimes proves fatal. I am inclined to believe this is true: because the musk decreases in strength with time, and when I dealt in that article, I always found it requisite to stand in the open air, and at a distance from those who moved the bladders. This drug is, however, very frequently adulterated by the hunters with the blood of the animal, and by the merchants with the blood of oxen, lead, &c. But the natives of India have various methods of detecting this adulteration, they discover it by the taste, and weight, but mostly with a thread steeped in the juice of garlic which they draw through the bag with a needle, and if it retains that smell they are certain of its being adulterated.Voyage de Chardin.

[AD]The musk is a solitary animal, which prefers high mountains and rugged rocks; sometimes he descends into the profound and dark chasms which separate the highest chains of mountains, and sometimes he climbs to their tops covered with snow. He is very agile, and swims very well; extremely ferocious, it is difficult to approach him, and equally so to tame him, though mildness forms the basis of his character. He is in rut in the months of November and December; this season of love is also the season of furious combats between the males. They eat the flesh of this animal: but that of the young ones alone is good and tender.

Engraved for Barr’s Buffon

FIG. 161.Cabiai.

FIG. 160.Babiroussa.

The Babiroussa.

Although we have only the head of this animal in the royal cabinet, it is too remarkable to be passed over in silence. All naturalists have looked upon it as a kind of hog, though either its head, size, bristles, nor tail, resemble that animal: its legs are longer, and its muzzle shorter; it is covered with short hair, as soft as wool, and its tail is terminated by a tuft of this wool; its body is likewise not so thick and clumsy as that of the hog; its hair is grey, mixed with red and a little black; its ears are short and pointed; but the most remarkable character, and which distinguishes it from all other animals, are four enormous tusks, or canine teeth, the two shortest of which shoot out of the lower jaw, like those of the wild boar, and the two others, which come from the upper jaw, pierce the checks, or rather the upper part of the lips, and rise in a curve almost to the eyes. The tusks are a very beautiful ivory, much smoother and finer, but not so hard as that of the elephant.

The position and the direction of these two upper tusks, which rise upright, and then bend in the form of a circle, have made some skilful naturalists, such as Grew, imagine that these tusks ought not to be looked upon as teeth, but as horns. They founded their opinion upon the circumstance that in all animals the sockets of the teeth in the upper jaw open downwards; that in the babiroussa, as in the other animals, the sockets are turned downwards, except those of these two great tusks, which, on the contrary, are turned upwards; and they concluded from thence, that from this essential character of the upper teeth, these tusks, whose sockets are directed upwards, ought to be looked upon as horns and not as teeth. But these philosophers were deceived; the position or direction is only a circumstance, and not essential to the existence of an object. These tusks, though situate in an opposite manner to that of the other teeth, is only a singularityin the direction, which cannot change the nature of the thing, nor make an ivory horn of a true canine tooth.

These enormous tusks give this animal a very formidable appearance; they are, however, less dangerous than our wild boars. They go in herds, and have a very strong smell, by which they are easily discovered, and are hunted by dogs with good success. They growl terribly, defend themselves, and wound their enemies with their under tusks; for the upper are rather of disservice than of use to them. Although savage and ferocious, they are tamed with great ease; and their flesh, which is very good, putrifies in a short time. As their hair is fine, and their skin delicate, it is soon penetrated by the teeth of dogs, who hunt them in preference to wild boars, and sooner accomplish their purpose. They fasten their upper tusks in the branches of trees, to rest their heads, or to sleep standing. This habit they have in common with the elephant, who, in order to sleep in a standing posture, supports his head by fixing the end of his tusks in the holes which he makes in the walls of his lodging.

The babiroussa differs still more from the wild boar, by his natural appetites; he feeds upon grass and leaves of trees, and does notendeavour to enter gardens to feed on beans, pease, and other vegetables; while the wild boar, who lives in the same country, feeds upon wild fruit, roots, and often destroys the gardens. Besides, these animals who go together in herds, never intermix; the wild boars keep on one side, and the babiroussas on the other. The latter walk quicker and have a very fine smell, and often stand erect against the trees to scent the approach of dogs or hunters. When they are pursued to any great distance they make towards the sea, and, swimming with great dexterity, very often escape their pursuers, for they swim for a long time, and often to very great distances, and from one island to another.

The babiroussa is found not only in the island of Bouro, or Boero, near Amboyna, but also in many parts of the South of Asia, and Africa; as at Celebes, Estrila, Senegal, and Madagascar, for it appears that the wild boars of this island, which Flaccourt speaks of, and says,that the males chiefly have two horns on the side of their nose, are babiroussas. We have not had it in our power to determine whether the female has the two tusks which are so remarkable in the male, but most authors seem to agree that they have.

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