Discovery of the Remains of a Mammoth. 133 



I made two additional excursions, for the purpose of 

 acquiring some more precise notions upon the nature of 

 this peninsula, and my discoveries in zoology and bo- 

 tany perfectly answered my expectations. I found a 

 great quantity of amber upon the shores; but in no 

 piece whatever could I discover the least trace of any 

 marine production. I should, perhaps, attribute this to 

 the proximity of the river, and perhaps also to the depth 

 of the sea, or abruptness of the shore. I had occasion 

 to examine more closely the effects of the flux and re- 

 flux : this has escaped M. Sauer, who saw nothing of it 

 at the mouth of the Colima, 



Our Cossacs not having arrived in time with the boat, 

 I was obliged to return to the continent with my rein- 

 deer, without waiting for them. The vessel, in the 

 mean time, had cast anchor in the bay of Borchaya, three 

 hundred wersts from the isthmus where I was. We ar- 

 rived, without any accident, after a journey of eight days. 

 A week afterwards I had the satisfaction to see the mam- 

 moth arrive. Our first care was to separate, by boiling, 

 the nerves and flesh from the bones ; the skeleton was 

 then packed, and placed at the bottom of the hold. 

 When we arrived at Jakoutsk, I had the good fortune 

 to purchase the tusks of the mammoth ; and thence I 

 dispatched the whole for St. Petersburgh. 



A question of some magnitude remains to be resolv- 

 ed : — Are the mammoth and elephant animals of the 

 same species, as asserted by Buffon, Pallas, Isbrand 

 Ides, Gmelin, and, above all, Daubenton? Or should 

 we, in preference, rely upon the opinion of M. Cuvicr, 



