Discovery of the Remains of a Mammoth. 127 



same spot, the carcase of a sea-cow (Trichecus Rosma- 

 rus). He perceived at the same time that the mass he 

 had formerly seen was freer from the ice, and by the 

 side of it he remarked two similar pieces, which he 

 afterwards found were the feet of the mammoth. About 

 the close of the next summer, the entire flank of the 

 animal, and one of the tusks, had distinctly come out 

 from under the ice. Upon his return to the shores of 

 the lake Onroul, he communicated this extraordinary 

 discovery to his wife and some of his friends ; but their 

 manner of regarding the subject overwhelmed him 

 with grief. The old men related, on this occasion, that 

 they had heard their forefathers say that a similar mon- 

 ster had formerly shown itself in the same peninsula, 

 and that the whole family of the person who discovered 

 it had become extinct in a very short time. The 

 mammoth, in consequence of this, was unanimously re- 

 garded as auguring a future calamity, and the Toun- 

 gouse chief felt so much inquietude from it, that he fell 

 dangerously ill ; but becoming well again, his first ideas 

 suggested to him the profit he might gain by selling the 

 tusks of this animal, which were of an extraordinary 

 size and beauty. He therefore gave orders to conceal 

 carefully the place where the mammoth was, and to re- 

 move all strangers from it, under various pretexts, 

 charging, at the same time, some trusty dependents not 

 to suffer any part of this treasure to be carried away. 



" But the summer being colder and more windy 

 than usual, kept the mammoth sunk in the ice, which 

 scarcely melted all that season. At last, about the end 

 of the fifth year afterwards, the ardent desires of Schou- 



