ACCOUNT OP A FEROCIOUS BEAST. 141 



neighbouring tribes, numbers of them came to view the head Account of the 



and to praife the vidorious Indians for their warlike deed. caHfcd'jagSfco by 



N. B. The Mahicanni claim the honour of this acl. the American 



Indians. 



Remarks by the Editor. 



The preceding traditional accounts of the Indians, con- 

 cerning the " naked beafr," are in fome refpe&s, fo very ex- 

 travagant, that they may perhaps be deemed altogether un- 

 worthy of any attention. I muft confefs, however, that I 

 cannot but confider fuch traditions, though imperfectly handed 

 down to us, and evidently disfigured by fable, as entitled to 

 the notice of the naturalift and philofopher. 



That fuch an animal as the Jagifho i> defcribed to have been, 

 has ever exifted in the (late of New York, may perhaps 

 admit of a rational doubt ; but that the Indian tradkion relates 

 to fome remarkable animal that is no longer to be feen in the 

 country which it is faid to have inhabited, I think there is 

 good reafon to believe. What this animal was, at what period 

 it ceafed to be feen, and what was the more pure account of 

 the Indians concerning it one hundred years ago, I do not 

 pretend to determine. 



Poffibly the Indian tradition refers to the large animal, (I 

 mean an individul of the fame fpecies,) fome of whofe bones 

 have been found in a cavern in the back parts of Virginia ; the 

 animal of which mention is made in the flrft part of this 

 Journal*. Is is true indeed that the Indian accounts of the 

 activity of the New York animal are not very favourable to 

 the idea, that the animal was Mr. JerTerfon's Megalonyx, 

 which I have fuppofed belonged to the order of Tadigrada, 

 comprehending the Sloth, the Armadillo, and others. What 

 is faid of the claws of the Jagirtio may be thought to favour 

 the notion that this was really the Megalonyx, or Megathe- 

 rium. But I would not be underftood to place any depend- 

 ance upon the minute or defcriptive circumftances which 

 are mentioned in the Indian tradition. Nor indeed do I think 

 it at all probable that the Megalonyx (as it is called) or any of 

 the fpecies of elephants whofe exuviae abound in various parts 

 of North America, have been feen in a living ftate in this 

 Continent, within the period of two, or even twice two 

 hundred years. 



* Seaion Third, p, 152, 154. 



SCIENTIFIC 



