158 Miscellaneous Facts and Observations. 



of the animal. That it was provided with such an 

 instrument, there can be little doubt : the structure of 

 the animal renders it probable ; and that the probos- 

 cis, though composed of substance much more liable 

 to decay than the bones, may have been preserved in 

 the salines, or licks, for hundreds of years, may be 

 credited. The flesh and skins of other large animals 

 are known to have been preserved, in similar and in 

 other situations, for as great a length of time as we 

 have any grounds to believe, that the skeletons of the 

 American animals had lain buried in the mud of the 

 Ohio. Some fortunate discovery will ultimately 

 prove, in the most satisfactory manner, that the 

 mammoth was furnished with a proboscis, and that 

 it was a species of elephant. 



The cautious manner in which the Indians deli- 

 vered their traditional tale, concerning the Ohio ani- 

 mal, reflects some credit upon them. It may be 

 worth observing, that this tradition is essentially dif- 

 ferent from that published by Mr. Jefferson, in his 

 Notes on the State of Virginia. Yet both of them 

 proceeded from the Shawanese. The one is, perhaps, 

 entitled to as much attention as the other. 



A complete history of the skeleton of the Ameri- 

 can Elephant is a desideratum in natural history. It 

 is not altogether creditable to the philosophers of the 

 United- States, that something of this kino!, has not 

 been published by them. In some respects, they are, 

 certainly, better qualified to undertake, and to per- 

 form, the task than the naturalists of Europe. But it 



