202 EXTINCT MONSTERS. 



all except one leg, but the flesh had almost all gone. The head 

 was covered with a dry skin, one of the ears was seen to be 

 covered with a tuft of hairs. All these parts suffered more or 

 less injury in transport for a distance of 7330 miles to St. 

 Petersburg, yet the eyes have been preserved. This Mammoth 

 was a male, with a long mane on its neck, but both tail and 

 proboscis had disappeared. The skin is of a dark grey colour, 

 covered with a reddish wool and black hairs. The entire carcase 

 was nine feet four inches high. The skin of the side on which 

 the carcase had lain was detached by Mr. Adams, for it was well 

 preserved, but so heavy was it that ten persons found great 

 difficulty in transporting it to the shore. The white bears, while 

 devouring the flesh, had trodden into the ground much of the 

 hair belonging to the carcase, but Mr. Adams was able by digging 

 to procure about sixty pounds' weight of hair. In a few days the 

 work was completed, and he found himself in possession of 

 a treasure which amply compensated him for the fatigues and 

 dangers of the journey as well as the expense of the enterprise. 

 When first seen, this Mammoth was embedded in clear pure ice, 

 which forms in that coast escarpments of considerable thickness, 

 sloping towards the sea, the top of which is covered with moss 

 and earth. If the account of the Tungusians can be trusted, the 

 carcase was some way below the surface of the ice when first 

 seen. Arrived at Takutsk, Mr. Adams purchased a pair of tusks 

 which he believed to belong to this Mammoth, but there is reason 

 to doubt whether he did get the right tusks. They are nine feet 

 six inches long. 



The skeleton of this specimen, the fame of which may be said 

 to have spread all over the world, is now set up in the Museum 

 of the St. Petersburg Academy, and the skin still remains attached 

 to the head and feet. A part of the skin and some of the hair 

 were sent by Mr. Adams to Sir Joseph Banks, who presented them 

 to the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons. 1 A photograph 



1 A specimen of the hair of a mammoth may be also seen at the Natural 



