170 On the Extinct Species 



cumference at the small end. It is incurvated nearly 

 into an arch of a large circle ; and it is conjectured that, 

 in its entire state, it was nearly a semicircle of not less 

 than ten or twelve feet. Certain it is, that the defense 

 is imperfect at both ends; and it is probable, that between 

 two and three feet have perished at each end. 



I have not myself seen this enormous defense, but I 

 place entire confidence in the veracity of those who 

 speak of it; and I have seen a large molar tooth which was 

 found in the same plaee, along with the defense. The 

 tooth is, unquestionably, elephantine, and not, I think, 

 specifically different from those of the Elephas primige- 

 nius. The defense itself is, I presume, one of the largest 

 of which Ave have any account ; certainly quite as large 

 as that in the Geological Gallery of the Museum of Na- 

 tural History at Paris, of which Mons. Faujas-St.-Fond 

 has given us the admeasurements*. 



It is a circumstance not unworthy of your notice, that 

 the large defense of which I have been speaking, or at 

 least some similar one, has given name to the river in 

 which it was found. This river, one of the western 

 branches of the Susquehanna, is called by the Wunau- 

 mceh, or Delaware-Indians, Chemung, or rather Che- 

 munk ; that is, " the river of the Horn," or " the place 

 where the Horn was found ;" for Shummo, or Shoommu, 

 signifies a horn, in the language of these Indians ; and 

 they consider the great defense as the horn of a mon- 

 strous serpent, which, they say, once inhabited this par- 

 ticular spot of the continent of North-America. So 



* E-.^ai (Jo C(Jo'i0 ie, &c, Sec, torn. 1. p. 293, Sec. 



