Despite the large number of products capable of affording more or less of a musk-like odour, the musk-deer remains the one important commercial source of the perfume. This little animal, scarcely larger than a greyhound, is an inhabitant of the Himalayan range. From the first high ridge above the plains, to the limit of forest on the Alpine range, and throughout probably the whole length of the Himalayan chain, this deer may be found on every forest-clad hill above 8000 ft. It inhabits all kinds of forest indiscriminately, from the oaks of the lower hills to the stunted bushes near the limit of vegetation, but exhibiting a preference for birch forests, where the underwood Consists chiefly of juniper and white rhododendron. A variety of the musk-deer, if not the same animal, extends its range into the dry and desert region north of the Himalayas. It is of common occurrence on the Tsanpu river in the neighbourhood of Lhasa, bat only, it would seem, where the birch grows. It is abundant in Bhutan, and probably (according to R. Lydekker) ranges northward of that district over most of the open country up to Tibet, and thence across or round the Gobi desert into Siberia.
The animal is nocturnal in its habits, and exceedingly shy and agile. In some districts, it is hunted down by dogs ; but it is much more commonly snared, by erecting a fence about 3 ft. high and 1 mile or more long, with openings at every 10-15 yd., provided with strong hempen snares, which catch the animal by the leg. Entrapped animals are sometimes destroyed by polecats and other vermin ; in such cases, the musk-pod may be torn, and its contents scattered, but not devoured. The pod is found only in the males ; and curiously enough, though their dung smells nearly as strongly as the musk itself, no such odour can be detected in the contents of the stomach and bladder, nor in any part of the body. The females are utterly devoid of odour. The pod is placed near the navel, between the flesh and skin, and is composed of several layers of tbiu skin, having much the appearance of a full craw of a gallinaceous bird. Its interior communicates with the outer air by means of an orifice that will admit the little finger by slight pressure, but it has no visible passage leading inwards. The musk is coufined in this pod in grains of irregular roundish or ovoid shape, varying in size from small shot to a bullet, together with some coarse powder. Its colour when fresh is dark reddish-brown, becoming nearly black when removed and kept. In the cold season, the grains are firm, hard, and nearly dry; in hot weather, they become damp and soft. The pod is fully developed long before birth, indeed it is then dispro portionately large. For two years, the contents remain as a soft, milky substance, of disagreeable odour. When first it becomes musk, its weight does not exceed -k oz. ; it increases with the animal's growth, and reaches 2 oz. in some individuals, but the average yield from a full-grown animal is 1 oz., and the proportion of immature animals killed will reduce the mean of commercial pods to oz. The odour of the musk of young animals is less strong, but pleasanter than that of old ones. Differences in food, climate, and situation have not been found to affect the quality.
Before the age of 3 years, the quantity is not sufficient to be worth. extracting; it is greatest during the rutting season. Occasionally the musk appears to be discharged through the orifice in the pod, leaving the latter almost empty. The dealers also extract the grain musk by its means, and replace tampering undergone.
The natives have two methods of preparing the pods. Usually they cut round the pod, and skin the whole belly immediately after the death of the animal. The pod comes away attached to the skin (not uuhaired), which is then spread on a heated stone, flesh-side downwards, and thus dried without singeing the hair. The skin shrivels with the heat, and is tied or stitched around the pod, and the whole is hung up in a dry place till quite hard. Sometimes the pod is put into hot oil, instead of being laid on a hot stone. The object in each case is to prevent the subsequent decom position of the fleshy skin, but the musk cannot fail to suffer much depreciation by the treatment. The best plan is to out the pod at once from the skin, and allow it to dry in the sun, which it does in a few hours. A substance commonly used by the natives for adulterating musk or filling sham pods is blood, boiled or baked, then dried, beaten to powder, kneaded into paste, and made into coarse and fine grains in imitation of the genuine article. Many other things are similarly used.
Two forms of musk appear in commerce. "Musk in pod" is the material contained in its natural glandular receptacle ; "musk in grain" is the material removed from its natural position, and put into bags. The musk in pod varies in appearance, according to whether the pad has or has not been detached from the animal's skin. The three kinds of musk met with in the London market are (1) Tonquin, Chinese, or Tibetan ; (2) Assam ; (3) Kabardin (Cabardien) or Russian (Siberian). The first is packed in small chests encased with sheet lead, each chest containing 25 paper packages ; it is the most highly prized, and most adulterated. The second is packed in bags, stowed into a wooden or tin-plate box, containing about 200 pods, which are of irregular form, and strong but rank odour. The third kind is much inferior, the pods being smaller, and the odour much weaker and less agreeable ; it is too poor to bear any adulteration. Recent exports of musk from Chinese ports, stated in piculs of have been :—Canton, exports to foreign countries, 0-84 piculs in 1878, in 1879; Hankow, exports and re-exports, 32.32A- piculs in 1878, 31.95 in 1879 ; Shanghae, total exports and re-exports, 39 2015 piculs in 1879; Ichang, experts, 5.84 piculs in 1879. The exports of musk from British India were :-7403 oz., value 10,5621. in 1874-5 ; 5267 oz., 11,7821., in 1875-6; 5020 oz., 11,7261., in 1876-7; 3115 oz., 79041., in 1877-8; 3444 oz., 69541., in 1878-9. The distribution of the export in 1878-9 was :-2576 oz. to the United Kingdom, 52 oz. to Malta, 540 oz. to Arabia, 70 oz. to Turkey in Asia, and 206 oz. to other countries.