THE MAMMOTH 189 
the mammoth might still be living in these lo- 
calities, where, before the discovery of gold 
drew thousands of miners to Alaska, there were 
vast stretches of wilderness wholly untrodden 
by the foot of man. Neither could this theory 
account for the disappearance of the mastodon 
from North America, where that animal cov- 
ered so vast a stretch of territory that man, 
unaided by nature, could have made little im- 
‘pression on its numbers. That many were 
swept out to sea by the flooded rivers of Si- 
_beria is certain, for some of the low islands off 
the coast are said to be formed of sand, ice, 
and bones of the mammoth, and thence, for 
hundreds of years, have come the tusks which 
are sold in the market beside those of the 
African and Indian elephants. 
That.man was contemporary with the mam- 
“moth in southern Europe is fairly certain, for 
‘not only are the remains of the mammoth and 
‘man’s flint weapons found together, but in a 
few instances some primeval Landseer graved 
_ on slate, ivory, or reindeer antler a sketchy 
" outline of the beast, somewhat impressionistic 
| perhaps, but still, like the work of a true artist, 
