Thus protected from the inclemency of winter cold, the musk-ox remains the contented and happy inhabitant of the most barren and desolate parts of the earth. Within the Arctic Circle, in those almost inaccessible regions which lie nearest the North Pole, large herds of these quadrupeds are found, appearing to derive as much enjoyment from existence as the cattle who graze on the most luxuriant pastures, beneath a genial sky. They are not often found at a great distance from woods; but when they feed upon open grounds they prefer the most precipitous situations, climbing amidst rocks with all the agility and precision of the mountain-goat or the chamois. Grass, when they can get it, moss, twigs of willow, and pine shoots, constitute their food. The parts of the polar regions inhabited by the musk-ox are thus described in the Appendix to Parry’s Second Voyage:-- “This species of ox inhabits the North Georgian Islands in the summer months. They arrived in Melville Island in the middle of May, crossing the ice from the southward, and quitted it on their return towards the end of September. The musk-ox may be further stated, on Esquimaux information, to inhabit the country on the west of Davis’ Strait, and on the north of Baffin’s Bay; as a head and horns and a drawing of a bull being shown to the Esquimaux of the west coast of Davis’ Strait who were communicated with on the 7th of September, were immediately recognized, and the animal called by the name of Umingmack. This is evidently the same with the Umimak of the Esquimaux of Wolstenholme Sound, who were visited by the former expedition, and of which nothing more could be learnt at the time from their description than that it was a large horned animal inhabiting the land, and certainly not a rein-deer. It is probable that the individuals which extend their summer migration to the north-east of Baffin’s Bay, retire during the winter to the continent of America, or to its neighbourhood, as the species is unknown in South Greenland.” Captain Franklin, in his Journey to the Polar Sea, has given the following account of the habits of this species:--