EXTRANEOUS FOSSILS. 51 r 



rica they are abundant. The countries bordering upon the 

 Ohio and its tributary ftreams, have already furnifhed nu- 

 merous difcoveries ot the kind ; and, it is faid, the banks 

 of the Miffouri, alio, abound with them. 



Nature having blelFed our tranlmontane regions with a 

 bountiful fupply of falines, or fprings of ialt water ; the 

 earth there being foft or fpongy and impregnated with 

 mineral falts, is rendered peculiarly fit for the reception and 

 prefervation of certain bodies which, in other places, would 

 undergo a fpeedy decay. Hence the profuiion of Mam- 

 moth bones beyond the mountains ; while on the Atlantic 

 fide of them, where falines are fcarce, fuch remains have 

 but rarely been found : — I fpeak here comparatively. 



Hitherto but few of the remains in queftion have ap- 

 peared to the fouthward of the ^6""' degree of north lati- 

 tude : and hence an opinion, that the Mammoth was not 

 an inhabitant of the warmer climates. The ingenious 

 author of " Notes on Virginia'' feems to be influenced by 

 this belief when, alluding to fome difcoveries made farther 

 fouth, he obferves, — " They are either fo loofely menti- 

 oned, as to leave a doubt of the fad ; fo inaccurately de- 

 fcribed, as not to authorize the clafling of them with the 

 great northern bones ; or fo rare, as to found a fufpicion 

 that they have been carried thither, as curiofities, from 

 more northern regions." 



Since the publication of the " Notes," however, at leaft 

 one additional fact has occurred, that favours the affigning 

 of a wider range to this incognitum ; for, in cutting the 

 Santee and Cowper river canal in South-Carolina, there 

 was lately turned up a colleftion of bones, anfwering by 

 defcription to thofc of the Mammoth. Their number, 

 variety, and arrangement were luch, as forcibly to pre- 

 clude the idea of their having been " carried thither as 

 curiofities."* 



The 



* Since writing this p.iper, fimikir remains have been difcovered at 

 Wilmington and near Newbem, both in North-Carolina and without the li- 

 mits above fuggefted for the refidence of the Mammoth. 



