Animal products; . sac, which the Indians delight in eating. It is neveradulterated in the fur countries. In the trade district of Alaska in the seventy-six years endingwith 1862, 2,500 lbs of castoreum was obtained. Musk Rat or Musquash. (Fiber Zibethicus). The geographicalrange of this animal is extensive, from 300 to 6o° north. Though they have a strong musky flavour, particularly in spring,their flesh is eaten by the Indians in North America, who prize itfor a time when it is fat, but soon tire of it. The musky odour is MUSK RAT OR MUSQUASH. 297 owing to a whitish fluid deposited in certai
Animal products; . sac, which the Indians delight in eating. It is neveradulterated in the fur countries. In the trade district of Alaska in the seventy-six years endingwith 1862, 2,500 lbs of castoreum was obtained. Musk Rat or Musquash. (Fiber Zibethicus). The geographicalrange of this animal is extensive, from 300 to 6o° north. Though they have a strong musky flavour, particularly in spring,their flesh is eaten by the Indians in North America, who prize itfor a time when it is fat, but soon tire of it. The musky odour is MUSK RAT OR MUSQUASH. 297 owing to a whitish fluid deposited in certain glands near theorigin of the tail. The skin, when taken from the body, still retainsthe scent. The fur on the whole body is soft and glossy, andbeneath is a finer fur or thick down as in the beaver, but shorterand less lustrous. Still it is a beautiful fur, and when dyed and plucked, its resem-blance to the fur seal is so great as to deceive any but years ago they used to fetch a shilling a musk rat {Fiber Zibethiciis). Great numbers of these skins were formerly used in America,and sent to Europe for making beaver hats ; but since the generaluse of silk hats, the demand for this purpose has passed are however now in great request as a fur. In 1824 onlyabout 5000 skins were exported to Great Britain from America;now the quantities collected by the Hudsons Bay Company areenormous, ranging between 400,000 and 600,000 annually. Thelowest number sent of late years has been 177,000. The European musk rat is met with about the River Volga, andthe adjacent lakes from Novgorod to Saratov. The price atOrenburg in olden times used to be as low as jd a hundred for 298 HAMSTER—BROWN RAT. these skins. And even in later years they were so common nearNishni Novgorod that the peasants would bring in 500 each tomarket, which they sold at 3^. 6d. a hundred. The skins andtails were put into chests and wardrobes in Russia to preserveclothes from moths. The skins
Size: 2098px × 1191px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., book, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookidanimalproducts00simm
