98 On the Marmnoth, 



In digging wells or foundations for buildings there are evei^ 

 where discovered the entire skeletons of elephants, which are 

 very well preserved in the frozen soil of that country. The in- 

 stances of these bones being found in the above-mentioned 

 regions, and their great numbers, are so frequently stated by 

 Russian travellers, that it may be fairly contended that the number 

 of elephants now living on the globe is greatly inferior to the 

 number of those whose bones are remaining in Siberia. 



It is particularly to be noticed, that in every climate and under 

 every latitude, from the range of mountains dividing Asia, to 

 the frozen shores of the Northern Ocean, Siberia abounds with 

 Mammoth bones. The best fossil ivory is found in the countries 

 near to the Arctic circle, and in the most eastern regions, which 

 are much colder than the parts of Europe under the same lati- 

 tude, and where the soil in their very short summer is thawed 

 only at the surface, and in some years not at all. 



I recommend those of my readers who wish for more detailed 

 accounts of the skeletons of elephants and other large animals, 

 such as the gigantic buffalo and rhinoceros found in different 

 parts of Siberia, and particularly of the immense quantity of 

 their bones, to consult the dissertations of the celebrated Pallas 

 in the " Nova Commentaria Petropolitana." They are en- 

 titled " De Ossibus Siberiae Fossilibus," and " De Reliquiis 

 animalium exoticorum per Asiam borealem repertis. 



In the year 1805, when the Russian expedition under Kru- 

 senstern returned for the third time to Kamschatka, Patapof, 

 master of a Russian ship bringing victualling stores from Ok- 

 hotsk, related that he had lately seen a Mammoth elephant dug 

 up on the shores of the Frozen Ocean, clothed with a hairy skin ; 

 and shewed in confirmation of the fact, some hair three or four 

 inches long of a reddish black colour, a little thicker than horse- 

 hair, which he had taken from the skin of the animal : this he gave 

 to me, and I sent it to Professor Blumenbach. No further 

 knowledge has been obtained on this subject, and unfortunately 

 Patapof was not employed by any of our Societies to return to 

 Siberia. Thus has this curious fact been consigned to oblivion ; 

 nor should we now possess any information respecting the car- 



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