172 On the Extinct Species 



the Osage-Indians, he came to a particular spot, in which 

 were thousands of the bones of the Elephas Americanus. 

 He collected about seventeen large defenses, several of 

 which were six feet long, and twelve inches in diameter. 

 But all these teeth, and the other bones, were in such a 

 decayed condition, that so soon as they became dry, they 

 fell into pieces, so that it was impossible to bring any of 

 them away, except a few molares, of which, I am assur- 

 ed, near a cart-load might have been gathered. I send 

 you one of these molares, which, as you will readily ob- 

 serve, is greatly altered : but it is not more altered than 

 several others, from which I was permitted to select the 

 one I have destined for you. 



My travelling friend mentions a circumstance, with 

 respect to the position of the bones (in the morass in 

 which they were found), which you will not, I think, 

 deem unworthy of your notice. He assures me, that all 

 the bones, such as the defenses, &c, were disposed in 

 a perpendicular direction ; or, as he expresses himself, 

 with their heads upwards. This circumstance has led 

 him, very naturally I think, to suppose, that the animals, 

 to which these bones belonged, must have sunk alive 

 into the morass, whither they had resorted (like the ani- 

 mals which I formerly mentioned to you), for the pur- 

 pose of licking and eating the saline earth, or of drink- 

 ing the water. You will not fail to view this fact, rela- 

 tive to the position of the American elephantine bones, 

 as a very interesting one, in other respects. Thus, al- 

 lowing the fact to be correctly stated, no one will ima- 

 gine, that the skeletons, to which these bones belonged 

 were conveved to the morass in which thev are found, 



