The mode in which the skunk is protected from the attack of enemies more powerful than itself, is by emitting an odour so fetid and abominable that few creatures are able long to continue within its influence. Cattle are said to be so much alarmed by it as to utter the most dreadful bellowings. Clothes that are infected with this smell retain it for many weeks; no washing can render them sweet, and they must be for some time buried in the fresh soil before they are thoroughly cleansed. Notwithstanding this, the American Indians frequently eat the _flesh_ of the skunk; but great care is requisite in killing it, to prevent any ill effect which would arise from its noxious vapour. As soon as the animals are dead, the glands, from which this vapour issues, are cut away, and the flesh, then untainted, is said nearly to resemble that of a young pig. The _skins_ of these quadrupeds, which are sweet, and well clad with hair, are much in request by furriers. The inhabitants of Chili are very partial to them as coverlids for their beds, and for other useful purposes. The Indians also make purses of them, which they hold in great esteem. 52. _The CIVET_ (Viverra civetta) _is an animal of the ichneumon tribe, distinguished by having coarse hair of yellowish ash-colour, marked with large blackish or dusky spots and stripes; a sort of upright mane on the neck and back, and the tail spotted above, and brown towards the tip._ _The whole length of the civet is generally about two feet. It is a native of several parts both of Africa and India._ The drug or _perfume_ called civet is the production of this animal. It is formed in a large bag or receptacle situated at a little distance beneath the tail, and the creature often spontaneously presses it out through an external orifice. This substance is a fatty secretion about the consistence of soft pomatum, of lively white colour when fresh, but darker when it has been some time kept. Its perfume is so strong, that it infects every part of the animal's body. The skin and hair are so entirely impregnated with it, that they retain their original smell long after they have been taken from the body; and if a person be shut up in the same apartment with one of these quadrupeds, the odour is almost insupportable. Civet was formerly much employed in medicine; but it is now seldom used, except as a perfume. It communicates some smell both to watery and spirituous liquors; hence a small portion of it is often added to odoriferous waters and spirits. The Italians make it an ingredient in perfumed oils, and in this manner obtain the whole of its scent; for oils dissolve the entire substance of the civet. When genuine, its value is from thirty to fifty shillings per ounce.