338 Mr. Ranking on the Remains of Elephants 



Mexico^ and also of the Incas, according to Sir Isaac New- 

 ton's mode of computation, accord with the date of this in- 

 vasion of Japan. 



The Lena. This noble river commences on the west side 

 of Lake Baikal, and flows into the Arctic Sea in the latitude 

 73°; it is five thousand versts* in length. The islands at the 

 mouths of the Lena have been famous for the mammoth -f 

 fishery from the earliest ages. The tusks are prized by the 

 Chinese, Turks, and Persians as infinitely preferable to ele- 

 phants' ivory. J The Chinese history, five centuries before 

 Christ, mentions these walrus haunts. The furs, the hawks 

 and falcons of these northern latitudes are highly esteemed. 

 The Turks, who possessed elephants, conquered Yakutsk in 

 the sixth century, and named that country Northern Tur- 

 questan. In the thirteenth century the Emperor Kublai sent 

 to the islands at the mouth of the Lena for his hawks and 

 falcons. II He kept ten thousand falconers. Some elephants 

 have been found in the ice in these parts, and Mr. Adams 

 describes ruins of ancient forts and mutilated remains of 

 grotesque sculpture. The number of walruses slain annually 

 is quite astonishing. § The mountain scenery at the mouth of 

 the Lena, says Mr. Adams, *' exalts the soul, and I was filled 

 with emotions of joy at finding so much happiness amidst the 

 Polar ice among these gay and innocentTunguse fishermen."^ 

 In the year 1290, Kublai sent mathematicians to ascertain the 



* A verst is three thousand five hundred English feet. Monsieur 

 Lesseps crossed the Lena where it was two leagues in breadth. 



t This is the name of the walrus in these regions, which has been 

 transferred to the elephant : hence innumerable errors in first-rate books 

 of science and speculation. 



$ It is said that they prefer it even to gold for the hafts of their sci- 

 mitars and daggers. The ivory of the walrus does not become yellow, 

 like that of the elephant. 



II Marsden's Marco Polo, p. 221 . 



§ Wars and Sports, chap. xyj. 



f Ibid., p, 249. 



