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In digging wells or foundations for buildings there are every where discovered the entire skeletons of elephants, which are very well preserved in the frozen soil of that country. The instances of these bones being found in the above-mentioned regions, and their great numbers, are so frequently stated by Russian travellers, that it may be fairly contended that the number of elephants now living on the globe is greatly inferior to the number of those whose bones are remaining in. Siberia.

It is particularly to be noticed, that in every climate and under every latitude, from the range of mountains dividing Asia, to the frozen shores of the Northern Ocean, Siberia abounds with Mammoth bones. The best fossil ivory is found in the countries near to the Arctic circle, and in the most eastern regions, which are much colder than the parts of Europe under the same latitude, and where the soil in their very short summer is thawed only at the surface, and in some years not at all.

I recommend those of my readers who wish for more detailed accounts of the skeletons of elephants and other large animals, such as the gigantic buffalo and rhinoceros found in different parts of Siberia, and particularly of the immense quantity of their bones, to consult the dissertations of the celebrated Pallas in the "Nova Commentaria Petropolitana." They are entitled "De. Ossibus Siberia Fossilibus," and "De Reliquiis animalium exoticorum per Asiam borealem repertis.

In the year 1805, when the Russian expedition under Krusenstern returned for the third time to Kamschatka, Patapof, master of a Russian ship bringing victualling stores from Okhotsk, related that he had lately seen a Mammoth elephant dug up on the shores of the Frozen Ocean, clothed with a hairy skin ; and shewed in confirmation of the fact, some hair three or four inches long of a reddish black colour, a little thicker than horsehair, which he had taken from the skin of the animal: this he gave to me, and I sent it to Professor Blumenbach. No further knowledge has been obtained on this subject, and unfortunately Patapof was not employed by any of our Societies to return to Siberia. Thus has this curious fact been consigned to oblivion; nor should we now possess any information respecting the car

case of the Mammoth, which forms more particularly the subject of this memoir, if the rumour of its discovery had not reached Mr. Adams, a man of great ardour in pursuit of science, who undertook the labour of a journey to these frozen regions, and of preparing these gigantic remains and transporting them to a great distance.

The preservation of the flesh of the mammoth through a long series of ages, is not to be wondered at, when we recollect the constant cold and frost of the climate in which it was found. It is a common practice to preserve meat and berries through the winter by freezing them, and to send fish, and all other provisions, annually at that period, from the most remote of the northern provinces, to St. Petersburg and other parts of the empire.

The following interesting account is given by Gmelin, of the depth to which the ground is thawed in summer. (Flora Siberica, Pref. xlvii.) "At Jakutsk, on the 8th of June, I ordered the ground to be dug in an elevated field, as deep as it was thawed. The mould extended to the depth of eleven inches; underneath it was sand, which was soft to the depth of two feet and a half, when it became harder; and after digging half a foot lower, it was very hard, and scarcely yielded to the spade, so that the ground was thawed scarcely four feet. I directed the same experiment to be tried at a lower spot not far distant. The mould was ten inches deep, the soft sand two feet four inches, but below this every thing was frozen quite hard. Moreover, various berries, which the Jakutski consider as delicacies, may be preserved in caves in the same state, that is, continually frozen, although the caves are scarcely the depth of six feet."

I shall now proceed to the account which Mr. Adams has published of his journey to the Icy Sea, and to the place where the carcase of the Mammoth, whose skeleton is now to be seen in our museum, was found lying on the sand and ice. It was first published in the Journal du Nord, printed at St. Petersburg, in 1807, under the title of Relation abrégé d'un Voyage à la Mer Glaciale, et Découverte des restes d'un Mammouth," and

afterwards in some German ephemerides; but as they are now scarce, I shall cite his own words.

I should reproach myself if I longer delayed the publication of a zoological discovery, which is highly interesting in its detail, since it makes us acquainted with a species of animal, whose existence was a subject of dispute among our best informed naturalists.

'I was told at Jakutsk by the merchant Popoff, chief of the body of merchants of that town, that there had been discovered on the shores of the Frozen Ocean, near the mouth of the river Lena, an animal of extraordinary magnitude. The flesh, the skin, and the hair, were in a state of preservation, and it was supposed that the fossil production known under the name of Mammoth's horns, must have belonged to an animal of this species. Mr. Popoff, had at the same time the kindness to present me with a drawing and description of this animal, and I thought it right to send them both to the President of the Academy of Petersburg. The news of this interesting discovery determined me to hasten the journey which I had in contemplation for the purpose of visiting the shores of the Lena as far as the Frozen Ocean; wishing to preserve these precious remains, which might otherwise be lost. My stay at Jakutsk consequently did not last many days; I set off on the 7th of June, 1806, furnished with some necessary letters, of which part were for the agents of government and the merchants, whose assistance I thought would be useful in my researches. On the 16th of June I arrived at the little town of Schigansk, and towards the end of this same month I was at KumaSurka; from thence I made a particular excursion, of which the Mammoth was the object, and I will now relate what my journal contains on that subject +.

* Tilesius says these are both preserved in the academy, but describes the drawing as very bad, representing a pig rather than an elephant, with red hair on the back. He says that the description was quite worthy of the drawing.

↑ Some parts of this account, not immediately relating to the object in view, are here omitted.

The contrary winds which had prevailed during the whole summer, delayed my departure from Kuma: this place was then inhabited by forty or fifty Tungusian families, who were generally employed in fishing, &c.

'The wind having at length changed, I determined to pursue my journey, and passed my rein-deer across the river. The next day at sun-rise I set off, accompanied by the Tungusian chief Ossip Schumachof, the merchant of Kuma-Surka, Bellkoff, my hunter, three Kossaks, and ten Tungusians, The Tungusian chief was the person who had first discovered the Mammoth, and who was proprietor of the territory through which our route lay. The merchant of Kuma-Surka had passed almost all his life on the shores of the Frozen Sea; his zeal and the advice he gave me have the strongest claim to my gratitude, and I even owe to him the preservation of my life in a moment of danger.

'We passed in our way over high steep mountains, valleys which followed the course of small brooks, and dry and wild plains, where not a shrub was to be seen. After two days' travelling we arrived at the shores of the Frozen Ocean. The Tungusians called it Angardam, or Terra Firma. To reach the Mammoth we were obliged to traverse a peninsula, called Byschofskoy-Mys or Tamut. This peninsula, which stretches into a spacious gulf, is on the right of the mouth of the Lena, and extends, as I was informed, from south-east to north-west, for the length of 80 wersts, (about 53 miles.) The name is probably derived from two points like horns, which are at the northern end of the promontory. The point on the left, which the Russians more especially call Byschofskoy-Mys, on account of its greater extent, forms three large gulfs, where are some Jakutsk settlements: the opposite point, called Manstai, on account of the great quantity of floating wood found on its shore, is of half the size; the bank is lower, and this canton is completely inhabited. The distance from one point to the other is reckoned at 45 wersts (30 miles.) Hills form the more elevated part of the peninsula of Tamut. The rest is occupied by lakes, and all the low lands are marshy, &c.

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