142 ELEPHANT OF THE LENA. 



before seen was more disengaged from the blocks 

 of ice, and had two projecting parts, but was still 

 unable to make out its nature. Towards the end 

 of the following summer, (1801,) the entire side 

 of the animal, and one of his tusks, were quite free 

 from the ice. On his return to the borders of the 

 lake Oncoul, he communicated this extraordinary 

 discovery to his wife and some of his friends ; but 

 the way in which they considered the matter 

 filled him with grief. The old men related on 

 the occasion their having heard their fathers say, 

 that a similar monster had been formerly seen in 

 the same peninsula, and that all the family of the 

 person who discovered it had died soon afterwards. 

 The Mammoth was, in consequence, unanimously 

 considered as an augury of future calamity, and 

 the Tungusian chief was so much alarmed that 

 he fell seriously ill ; but becoming convalescent, 

 his first idea was the profit which he might obtain 

 by selling the tusks of the animal, which were of 

 extraordinary size and beauty. He ordered that 

 the place where the Mammoth was found should 

 be carefully concealed, and that strangers should, 

 under different pretexts, be diverted from it, at 

 the same time charging trust-worthy people to 

 watch that the treasure was not carried off. 



" But the summer of 1802, which was less 

 warm and more windy than common, caused the 

 Mammoth to remain buried in the ice, which had 



