358 On some Quadrupeds supposed to he extinct, 



British kings Cuneboline''^ and Arviragus had representations 

 of elephants on their coins. The bones of elephants, rhino- 

 ceroses, and crocodiles found in Ava are not, as those found in 

 Europe and Siberia, what are termed extraneous fossils; the 

 same kinds of animals being natives of the spot in Ava. The 

 one like the horse cannot be ascertained ; but the kings of 

 Pegu, in former times, had camelopards, and, therefore, pro- 

 bably, zebras in their calichars^ or parks ; they also had wni- 

 corns, ostriches, and rein-deer f. Timar Khan, grandson of 

 Kublai, who invaded Siberia with such powerful armies, resided 

 at Tab, in Yunan, N. lat. 25*^ east of the Irawaddy J. 



The writer is of opinion that all those fossil bones found in 

 Ava are of species still in existence : they may have floated 

 down from more northern parts, the river in question being as 

 long as the Ganges, said to be navigable into China ; and has 

 its source in Thibet, — (see Rennell's Memoir, p. 217.) Ac- 

 cording to the hypothesis of the writer, Montezuma's ancestor 

 was a Mongul grandee from Assam ; and mastodontes' remains 

 have been found in Mexico, and those beasts are, as above 

 related, supposed to be found alive near the Missouri. 



This is the first instance the writer has met with of similar 

 bones not being extraneous ; and is, therefore, a remarkable 

 fact, which excites the strongest suspicion that their species 

 are still living. Ava is a new world on a small scale, and this 

 collection of bones will, very probably, at no distant date, lead 

 to positive proof of the existence of other quadrupeds, now 

 conjectured by naturalists to be extinct. With respect to the 

 local position, it is in all probability the old bed of the river, as 



big bulls in their traditions. It is probable that both people compared 

 them with the largest beast known to them ; as elephants, if indigenous 

 in America before the arrival of Mango Capac and Montezuma's ances- 

 tor, would have been extremely numerous, and have had a proper name. 



* Shakspeare spells this name Cymbeline ; Milton writes Kymbeline, 

 which is probably the true pronunciation : see his History, 8yo. 1695, 

 p. 62. 



t Wars and Sports, p. 269. 



$ Id. p. 5G6. The Burmans eat elephants. The writer was at Dacca 

 in 1794, when some Burmese troops invaded the Chittagong frontier. 

 An expedition, under Colonel Erskine, was sent against them ; and on 

 the return to Dacca of Colonel Boujonnar's battalion, the officers told 

 the writer that they found in the stockade the skeleton of an elephant, 

 which the Burmans bad devoured. 



