CONCLUSION. 143 



smews and arteries were plain to be seen on the earth and rocks, but in such a state 

 as not to be moved, excepting in small pieces, the size of the hand, which are now 

 preserved in spirits." 1 



In a chapter on " Traditions respecting Extinct Species," Col. Smith remarks, 

 that the bones of the megatherium, in Brazil, are on or near the surface, in a recent 

 state. " Now," he continues, " could they have resisted disintegration during four 

 or five thousand years, considering these to have lain exposed to, or at least within, 

 the influence of a tropical sun and the periodical rains ? Yet they often occur on 

 the surface, and the bones of the pelvis have been used for temporary fire-places by 

 the aborigines, wandering on the pampas, beyond the memory of man. In North 

 America, there are native legends which indicate traditional knowledge of more 

 than one species. Such is that of the great Elk or Buffalo, which, besides its enor- 

 mous horns, had an arm protruding from its shoulder, with a hand at the extremity 

 (a proboscis). Another, the Tagesho, or Yagesho, was a giant bear, long bodied, 

 broad down the shoulders, thin and narrow about the hind quarters, with a large 

 head, powerful teeth, short and thick legs, paws with very long claws, body almost 

 destitute of hair, except about the hind legs ; and therefore called ' the Naked 

 Bear.' Further details are furnished by the Indians, which, allowing for inadequate 

 terminology, incorrectness in tradition and translation from the native dialects to 

 English, leave a surprisingly applicable picture to a species of megatheridce, perhaps 

 the Jeffersoniim rnegalonyx. The colossal Elk, another name for the mastodon, or 

 Pere aux Bceufs, points out, that with designations of existing species, the Indians 

 describe extinct animals with a precision which, in their state of information, 

 nothing but traditionary recollections of their real structure could have furnished." 2 



Thus the bones of men and non-existent species of animals may be admitted to 

 be contemporary without supposing that either perished previous to the chronolo- 

 gical period. 



So great advances have recently been made in Physical Geography, that we are 

 able to determine, with reasonable accuracy, not only the probability of arrivals 

 on the American coasts from the eastern continent, before the age of Columbus, 

 but the points to which vessels would be driven, and the regions from whence they 

 would be most likely to come. 



3 To present in a few words a general idea of the currents and prevalent winds of 

 the ocean, let us suppose the earth at rest, and the equatorial regions continually 

 heated by the sun in his diurnal revolutions. In this condition, a continuous cur- 

 rent of air from the north, and another directly opposite from the south, would 

 blow towards the equator, there ascend and flow backward above toward the poles. 

 If we next suppose the earth to be in motion on its axis from east to west and 

 compound the effects of this motion with that of the winds towards the equator on 

 either side, they will not meet directly opposite each other, as in the previous sup- 



1 American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. XXXVI. pp. 199, 200. 

 8 Nat. Hist, of the Human Species, pp. 104-5. 



3 This sketch of the currents of the ocean we give on the authority of the Secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. 



