EXTRANEOUS FOSSILS. 517 



has enabled me to detedt. As it will furnifli a corrobora- 

 tive prefumption, if not a proof, that the Mammoth was 

 carnivorous, or partly fo, at lealt, 1 Ihall proceed to fomc 

 obfervations on certain appearances at that faline, and 

 which mull: have been familiar to the favages thenifelvcs. 

 — I mean colledlions of bones of the various animals 

 mentioned in the tradition. 



The Great-Bone Lick is a fhallow ftream of fiilt water 

 flowing into the Ohio. Upon either m.argin of the ftrcam 

 there lies a Jiratum^ extending a conliderable diflance, 

 compoicd entirely of the bones of the buffalo and other 

 fmaller animals noticed in the tradition above, From the 

 effe£t of the mineral fait, thefe remains were in a ftate 

 of high prefervation — But, judge of my furprizc, when 

 attentively examining them, 1 difcovered, that almoft 

 every bone of any length had received a fradure, occafi- 

 oned, moft likely, by the teeth of the Mammoth, while 

 in the adt of feeding on his prey. 



It is well known that the buffalo, deer, elk and fome 

 other animals, are in the conlfant habit of making fuch 

 places their refort ; in order to drink the fait water and 

 lick the impregnated earth. Now, may we not from 

 thefe fa£ts infer, that Nature had allotted to the Mam- 

 moth the beafts of the foreft for his food ? How can 

 we otherwife account for the numerous fractures that 

 every where mark thefe Jlrata of bones ? May it not be 

 inferred, too, that as the largefl and fwifteft quadrupeds 

 were appointed for his food, he neceffirily was endowed 

 with great ftrength and activity ? — that, as the immenfe 

 volume of the creature would unfit him for courfing 

 after his prey through thickets and woods, Nature had 

 furnillied him with the power of taking it by a mighty 



leap ? — 



