The musk oxen delight in the most stony and mountainous parts of the barren ground, and are seldom found at any great distance from the woods. Though they are a beast of great magnitude, and apparently very unwieldy, yet they climb the rocks with great ease and agility, and are nearly as sure-footed as a goat; like it too, they will feed on any thing; though they seem fondest of grass, yet in Winter, when that article cannot be had in sufficient quantity, they will eat moss, or any other herbage they can find, also the tops of willows and the tender branches of the pine tree. They bring forth their young the latter end of May, or beginning of June; and they never have more than one at a time The musk ox, when full grown, is as large as the generality, or at least the middling size, of English black cattle; but their legs, though large, are not so long; nor is their tail longer than that of a bear; and, like the tail of that animal, it always bends downward and inward, so that it is entirely hid by the long hair of the rump and hind quarters. The hunch on their shoulders is not large, being little more in proportion than that of a caribou. Their hair is in some parts very long, particularly on the belly, sides, and hind quarters; but the longest hair about them, particularly the bulls, is under the throat, extending from the chin to the lower part of the chest, between the fore-legs; it there hangs like a horse's mane inverted, and is fully as long, which makes the animal have a most formidable appearance. It is of the hair from this part that the Inuit make their mosquito wigs. In Winter they are provided with a thick fine wool that shields them from the intense cold; but as the Summer advances, this loosens from the skin, and by frequently rolling themselves on the ground, it in time drops off, leaving little for their Summer clothing except the long hair. This season is so short in those high latitudes, that the new fleece begins to appear almost as soon as the old drops off; so that by the time the cold becomes severe, they are again provided with a Winter-dress. The flesh of the musk-ox noways resembles that of the Western buffalo, but is more like that of the moose or elk; and the fat is of a clear white, slightly tinged with a light azure. The calves and young heifers are good eating; but the flesh of the bulls both smells and tastes so strong of musk as to render it very disagreeable: even the knife that cuts the flesh of an old bull will smell so strong of musk that nothing but scowring the blade quite bright can remove it, and the handle will retain the scent for a long time. Though no part of a bull is free from the smell, yet the parts of generation, in particular the urethra, are by far the most strongly impregnated. The urine itself must contain this scent in a very great degree; for the sheaths of the bull's penis are corroded with a brown gummy substance, which is nearly as high-scented with musk as that said to be produced by the civet cat.