128 Jourmy to the Frozen- Sea, and 



machofT were happily accomplished : the ice which en- 

 closed the mammoth having partly melted, the level 

 became sloped, and this enormous mass, pushed for- 

 ward by its own weight, fell over upon its side on a 

 sand-bank. Of this two Toungouses were witnesses, 

 who accompanied me in my journey. In the month of 

 March, 1804, Schoumachoff came to his mammoth, 

 and having got his horns cut off he changed them with 

 BaltounofF, the merchant, for merchandize of the value 

 of fifty roubles. On this occasion a drawing of the ani. 

 mal was made, but it was very incorrect; they de- 

 scribed it with pointed ears, very small eyes, horses' 

 hoofs, and a bristly mane along the whole of his back ; 

 so that the drawing represented something between a 

 pig and an elephant." 



Two years afterwards, being the seventh from the 

 discovery of the mammoth, a fortunate circumstance 

 occasioned my visit to these distant and desert regions, 

 and I congratulate myself upon having it in my power 

 to ascertain and verify a fact, which would otherwise be 

 thought so improbable. 



I found the mammoth still upon the same spot, but 

 completely mutilated. The prejudices against it hav- 

 ing been dissipated, because the Toungouse chief had 

 recovered his health, the carcase of the mammoth 

 might be approached without any obstacle : the pro- 

 prietor was content with the profit he had already de- 

 rived from it, and the Jakouts of the neighbourhood tore 

 off the flesh, with which they fed their dogs. Fero- 

 cious animals, — white bears of the north pole, gluttons, 



