An Embassy to the Court of the Teshoo Lama in Tibet - Prajna Quest

TIBET. 201They have a small head, a thick and round hind quarter, no scut, andextremely delicate limbs. The greatest singularity in this animal, isthe sort of hair with which itis covered, which is prodigiously copious,and grows erect all over the body, between two and three inches long,lying smooth only where it is short, on the head, legs, and ears.Upon examination, it partakes in its texture, less of the nature of hairthan feathers; or rather, it resembles the porcupine's quill; yet, at thesame time, it is thin, flexible, and not straight, but undulated. Thecolour, at the base, is white, in the middle black, and brown at thepoints. The musk is a secretion formed in a little bag, or tumor, resemblinga wen, situated at the navel ; and is found only in the male.The huntsmen, who sell it by weight, have a mode of adulterating itsometimes, before it is brought to market ; which, I am informed, isdetected by examining the texture of the musk. If it be brown andgranulated, there is reason to suppose it sophisticated ; but if blackand homogeneous, divided in many parts by a thin cuticle, it may berelied upon as pure.They have another more expeditious mode of ascertainingitsquality, by running a sharp pointed instrument, or needle,through the musk. I am told that the method of adulterating it is, byinjecting blood into it, while the bag is fresh. But as the musk deer* ishere deemed the property of the state, and hunted only by the permissionof government, of course, a great part of the musk passesthrough the hands of its agents ; and all that bears the Regent's seal,may be looked upon as genuine.> The musk deer, in the language of Tibet, is called La ; and the vascular coveringof the musk, Latcha.