August 8, 1878] 



NATURE 



189 



enormous animal, of great strength, but clumsy, awkward, 

 and slow^ in its movements. It wallowed in the mud, 

 lazily chewed its food of grass and tender twigs, and 

 stretched itself to rest among the reeds or grass on the 

 river's edge. From this apathetic condition it would be 

 roused only by the attack of a rival, of a mammoth, of a 

 rhinoceros, or of some one of the great carnivorous animals 

 of that distant epoch. It would then rush enraged on its 

 adversary, and endeavour to lay it low with its formidable 

 horn. 



The discoveries of remains of the elasmotherium show 

 that it once wandered over the greater portion of Europe, 

 from the Ural to the Rhine, and as far south as Sicily. 

 It is also highly probable that later palteontological dis- 

 coveries will show its existence in Asia, in company with 

 the other large mammals, whose remains have been so 

 well preserved in Siberia. 



It was also in all probability contemporary with the men 

 of the stone age, its remains occurring in the same 

 deposits, in which the anthropologist finds the flints, 

 collections of bones, and other evidences of prehistoric 

 man. From their weapons the elasmotherium had 

 probably little to fear. 



In connection with this interesting discovery Dr. 

 Brandt recounts a tradition of a tribe of Tartars in South 

 Siberia, which describes the death of an enormous black 

 ox. It possessed, however, but a single horn, and that 

 of such size that it could be transported on sledges only. 

 Possibly a reference to the elasmotherium. 



UNDERGROUND MONSTERS 



T N a former number (vol. xvii. p. 325) we gave some 

 ■*■ account of a curious underground monster, the Min- 

 hocao, supposed to exist in Brazil. Dr. Spencer Baird, 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, sends us an interesting 

 document, which shows that the belief in such a monster 

 is not confined to Brazil, but is shared in by the people of 

 Nicaragua. In the Gaceta de Nicaragua for March 10, 

 1866, is a long letter signed "Pauhno Montenegro," con- 

 taining a circumstantial account of an object possessing 

 very much the same attributes as the Minhocao. The 

 letter is dated Jinotega, Nicaragua, February 21, 1866. 

 The writer states that he went to Concordia on private 

 business, when he heard on the 17th of a serpent having 

 taken up its abode at a place called La Cuchilla, within 

 the jurisdiction of the village. Along with some friends, 

 M. Montenegro set out on the 18th to examine into the 

 foundation of the report. A tradition concerning such a 

 monster has existed from "time immemorial." After 

 having travelled on that day about two leagues (i league 

 = 2'6 English miles) north-east from the village, they 

 reached the spot where the inhabitants of the neighbour- 

 hood had traced signs and tracks, which, M. IMontenegro 

 states, positively prove the existence of such an animal. 



The most detailed accounts stated that here, some five 

 years before, a sort of platform of about fifty varas 

 diameter had been formed at the foot of a large rock 

 cropping out from a hillside. One of the neighbours 

 had established there an orchard, though no one had 

 been able to account for this new formation. Three 

 years before, however, people began to observe that 

 this little piece of level ground was gradually deepening, 

 and that in the month of November the base of the rock 

 adjoining it became exposed and worn from some agency, 

 notwithstanding that there was not sufficient water to 

 cause the phenomenon. At the same time mighty trees 

 {robles i) were observed to become uprooted and to fall 



^ " Roble," in Spanish, means an oak. The same name is found through 

 various parts of Spanish America, applied to trees belonging to very different 

 botanical families, having no natural affinities among each other, and also 

 none to the " Cupuliferse. " On the River Atralo, in New Granada, South 

 America, a huge tree, a spec'.es of Tecoma, is called "roble." The name 

 " roble," no doubt, is given to these different forms merely on account of 

 some external resemblance ti aT crg'r.a! Spanish fpecies of ceIc. 



in great disorder, while immense rocks were moved and 

 shifted their foundations so much, that in the following 

 month of December, during one night, the road from 

 Chichiguas and Cuchilla to San Rafael del Norte was 

 destroyed by a multitude of cracks and clefts, which 

 had suddenly opened. At that time the ground was 

 observed to be undermined, falling in at intervals. These 

 occurrences were observed some three days before M. 

 Montenegro and his friends visited the place, which they 

 saw all to be in accordance with the statements. Imme- 

 diately on examining the locality for themselves they came 

 to the conclusion that there were signs not of one but of 

 two animals, probably of the shape of huge fishes. 



In commencing their work these animals seemed to 

 pursue a kind of an upheaving movement. As the bottom 

 of their hiding-place was loose, shifting ground, the surface 

 of this was seen to give way, while trees were shaken out 

 and came down crashing. The noise of this seemed to 

 scare the animals away. One of them — believed to have 

 been the male on account of its larger size and greater 

 strength — took to the left in descending, but always in a 

 parallel direction with and along the slope of another 

 hill, Avhich here terminated. As it broke through the 

 banks of a ravine, which measured about twenty varas in 

 width and nine feet in depth at its gieatest opening, he 

 passed with his head underground. The thrown-up soil 

 showed the tracks of the head, which left its marks both 

 in the soil and on the roots of the trees, which were 

 broken, the broken pieces being four inches thick. The 

 main part of the body, which certainly must have passed 

 here uncovered, left its traces at the bottom of the ravine. 

 Passing out from this the animal entered upon ground 

 more level and friable, which it went through at a depth of 

 fi.ve quarters (i'25 varas), forming a furrow and leaving 

 behind a ridge more than one vara high. Following the 

 ravine for a distance of about sixty varas it encountered 

 two deep ditches, when it turned and traced its way back, 

 and, approaching the aforesaid ravine, took to the bed of 

 a pond and disappeared perpendicularly. 



The other animal, which left behind a smaller track, 

 and therefore was believed to have been the female, went 

 at once to the right, to the outlet of the pond of water 

 before referred to, leaving behind it everywhere the same 

 marks as the other. When it reached the two deep 

 ditches it turned back also, and undoubtedly encountered 

 its companion afterwards. 



The Avhole ground had become irregularly disturbed 

 and broken up, and the power of these animals is shown 

 by their being able not only to throw up huge masses of 

 soil but even to move rocks weighing more than thirty 

 quintals. 



The animals seem to be covered with a skin clad with 

 scales or plates, the markings of which, imprinted on the 

 soft clay or loam, bear much resemblance to those of the 

 garrobo ^ in the mud. It appears that the shape of these 

 animals must be like that of the guapote.^ "The length 

 of the body is at least twelve varas, the height three, and 

 its thickness i"5 varas. 



A tradition about such an animal as this has been kept 

 up unaltered, without contradiction, for more than a 

 hundred years. It is described in general as a large 

 snake, and called "sierpe," on account of its extra- 

 ordinary size, and living in chaquites.^ One is said to 

 have been once killed by lightning the moment it had 

 left its hiding-place in the river " Sebaco viejo." 



TWO AUSTRALIAN GEOLOGISTS 



AUSTRALIA has recently Ipst two of its most eminent 

 geologists, the Rev. W. B. Clarke and Mr. Richard 

 Daintree. The death of Mr. Clarke we noted some weeks 



' ' " Garrobo " and "guapote" are names of which the exact application 

 cannot be ascertained. 



3 "Chaquites" seems to be an Indo-Hispanic expression and a provin- 

 cialiim ;T)robabIy pjols or pjnds is meant in the presentjcase. 



