THE ICE AGE 



betook himself to the place. He found the Mammoth 

 still in the same place, but very much mutilated. The 

 Yakuts of the neighbourhood had cut off the flesh, with 

 which they fed their dogs ; wild beasts, such as white 

 bears, wolves, wolverenes, and foxes, had also fed upon 

 it, and traces of their footsteps were seen around. The 

 skeleton, almost entirely cleared of its flesh, remained 

 whole, with the exception of one foreleg. The spine 

 of the back, one scapula, the pelvis, and the other three 

 limbs were still held together by the ligaments and by 

 parts of the skin ; the other scapula was found not far 

 off. The head was covered with a dry skin ; one of the 

 ears was furnished with a tuft of hairs ; the balls of the 

 eyes were still distinguishable ; the brain still occupied 

 the cranium, but seemed dried up ; the point of the 

 lower lip had been gnawed and the upper lip had been 

 destroyed so as to expose the teeth; the neck was fur- 

 nished with a long flowing mane ; the skin, of a dark- 

 grey colour, covered with black hairs and a reddish wool, 

 was so heavy that ten persons found great difficulty in 

 transporting it to the shore. 



There was collected, according to Mr. Adams, more 

 than thirty-six pounds weight of hair and wool which 

 the white bears had trod into the ground while devour- 

 ing the flesh. This Mammoth was a male, so fat and 

 well fed, according to the assertion of the Tungusian 

 chief, that its belly hung down below the joints of 

 its knees. Its tusks were nine feet six inches in length, 

 measured along the curve, and its head without the 

 tusks weighed four hundred and fourteen pounds 



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