Note 617 — PRIMO VIAGGIO INTORNO AL MONDO (continued 2)

Mosto (p. 110, note 5) thinks it more probable that this passage refers to the animal Moschus moschiferus, or the musk deer, which is found in the high Himalayas, Tibet, and Eastern Siberia, rather than to the civet cat, which Pigafetta names. Castor is derived from the Sanskrit kasturi, which is used by the Malays and Javanese for the perfume of the civet cat (although they also use native and Arabic names). It is very probable that Pigafetta has confused musk and civet. However, Cosmas says also that the Kasturi produces the musk (see Yule’s Cathay, Hakluyt Society edition, i, p. clxxiv). Friar Jordanus gives a very superficial account of the musk deer and the preparation of musk (Wonders of the East, pp. 47, 48). Early descriptions of preparing musk and prices are given by Varthema (Travels, Hakluyt Society edition, p. 102), Barbosa (East African and Malabar Coasts, Hakluyt Society edition, pp. 186, 187, 222), who mentions the leeches, and Linschoten (Voyage, Hakluyt Society edition, i, p. 149, ii, pp. 94, 95), who also describes civet (ii, pp. 95, 96). Wallace (Malay Archipelago, p. 41) notes that leeches are very abundant and annoying on the peninsula of Malacca.