CHAPTER XIII. 



THE MAMMOTH. 



"Yes, where the huntsman winds his matin horn, 



And the couched hare beneath the covert trembles ; 

 Where shepherds tend their flocks, and grow their corn 



Where fashion in our gay Parade assembles — 

 Wild horses, deer, and elephants have strayed, 

 Treading beneath their feet old Ocean's races." 



Horace Smith. 



Many are the traditions and tales that have clustered round 

 the Mammoth.^ He is, however, no fabulous product of the 

 imagination, like the dragon, for he has actually been seen in the 

 flesh, and not only seen, but eaten, both by men and animals ! 

 But, for all that, men's minds have been busy for centuries past 

 making up tales, often of the wildest description, about him ; and 

 it is little wonder that a creature whose bones are found in the 

 soils and gravels, etc., over more than half the world, and whose 

 body has been seen frozen in Siberian ice, should have given rise 

 to many tales and superstitions. To students of folk-lore these 

 legends are of considerable interest, and to some extent also to 



' The word Rlammoih is thought by Pallas and Nordenksiold to be of 

 Tartar origin. The former asserts that the name originated in the word 

 ma?fima, which signifies earth (the Mammoth being found frozen in the earth). 

 It was introduced into the languages of Western Europe about two centuries 

 ago, from the Russian. But other writers have attempted to prove that it is a 

 corruption of the Arabic word Behemoth, or "great beast," which in the Book 

 of Job signifies an unknown animal. In an ancient Chinese work, of the fifth 

 century before Christ, it is spoken of under the name tien-schu, that is to say, 

 " the mouse which hides itself." The Chinese legends are referred to on p. 199. 



