368 JYotes on Fossil Remains, 



In the kingdom of Ava, Father Duchat has often seen trees 

 standing in a river, whose bottom part, as far as covered with 

 water, were true flinty and all above dry, and fit for firing. — 

 (Rees's Cyc. IVood ; from Mem. Acad, Par, 1692.) A petri- 

 fying quaUty is found in Tartary, Africa, and all over the globe, 

 in water, earth, and sand. — Phil, Trans. No. 461, p. 325. 



Those instances of the rapidity of the petrifying process, 

 prove that the bones are not necessarily old because they hap- 

 pen to be (which is not often the case) what is termed /os- 

 silized; and the following will show what distant removals from 

 their native haunts may take place from natural accidents. 



We saw a huge buffalo standing at the edge of a bluff, and 

 looking down on us. Long and matted wool hung over his 

 head and shoulders ; his body was smooth, and also his tail, 

 except a tuft at the end ; (the bonassus is named buffalo in 

 America.) He eyed us with the terrific ferocity of a lion ; at 

 length he threw his head up, wheeled round, and trotted off. 



When within a few miles of a point of the river, our ears 

 were assailed by a murmuring noise, which, as we drew near, 

 grew to a tremendous roaring, such as to deafen us. On land- 

 ing, we discovered the grove crowded with buffalos, several 

 thousands of them roaring and rushing on each other in furious 

 battle. The earth trembled beneath their feet, and the grove 

 was shaken. We discovered that a herd of males had broken 

 in among a number of females, which caused this scene of 

 horror and confusion. On the hills, in every direction, they 

 appeared by thousands ; we saw an immense herd at full speed 

 at the distance of tAvo miles, the sound of whose footsteps was 

 like the rumbling of thunder. At the burning bluff we found 

 enormous masses of pumice ; lumps thrown into the river 

 floated. Quantities of drift-wood descended, and thirty or 

 forty drowned buffalos passed us every day. — (pp. 97, 100, 199, 

 Brackenridge, Voyage up the Missouri.) 



The Indians, according to Mr. Bullock, in his Description of 

 Cincinnati, (published in 1827, p. xxvii.) have not forgotten the 

 mammoth traditions. '* An Indian of the Six Nations showed 

 me some drawings of his own execution, representing the In- 

 dian history of his tribe. Among the rest was a drawing of 

 the mammoth, which he informed me was so represented by 



