144 ELEPHANT OF THE LENA. 



content with his profit from the tusks, and the 

 Jakutski of the neighbourhood had cut off the 

 flesh with which they fed their dogs during the 

 carcity. Wild beasts, such as white bears, 

 wolves, wolverenes, and foxes, also fed upon it, 

 and the traces of their footsteps were seen around. 

 The skeleton, almost entirely cleared of its flesh, 

 remained whole, with the exception of one fore 

 ieg.* The spine from the head to the os coccygis,f 

 one scapula, the basin, and the other three extre- 

 mities, were still held together by the ligaments 

 and by parts of the skin. The head was covered 

 with a dry skin ; one of the ears, well preserved^ 

 was furnished with a tuft of hairs. 



" All these parts have necessarily been injured 

 in transporting them a distance of eleven thou 

 sand wersts, (seven thousand three hundred and 

 thirty miles*) Yet the eyes have been preserved, 

 and the pupil of the left eye can still be distin 

 guished. The point of the lower lip had been 

 gnawed, and the upper one having been destroyed, 

 the teeth could be perceived. The brain was 

 still in the cranium, but appeared dried up. 



* This has been restored in plaster of Paris from the 

 other side. 



t This is an error, as of twenty-eight or thirty cauda 

 vertebrae, only eight are remaining. 



J The ears are not well preserved, but may perhaps 

 nave suffered in so long a carriage. 



A dried substance is visible, but it is not certair 

 whether it is the pupil of the eye. 



