THE FLOCKS AND HERDS I 29 



increased the apparent size of the creature, which no doubt 

 appeared about twice as large as any of our modern elephants 

 which are nearly hairless. Although the perils of this ancient 

 chase must have been great, the triumphs were equally so, and 

 to a people who lived by hunting, most profitable ; a single 

 animal would furnish more food than scores of the lesser 

 beasts such as the reindeer. 



It seems probable that the ancient northern elephant con- 

 tinued in existence in North America down to the time when 

 this continent was inhabited by man. It can hardly be 

 doubted that the very ancient human beings, whose remains 

 are preserved to us beneath the lava streams of California, 

 dwelt on the continent along with the mammoth. In excava- 

 tions which I have made at Big Bone Lick in Kentucky, 

 where a group of saline springs emerges at the bottom of a 

 valley, there were disclosed a very great number of skeletons 

 of this great elephant, commingled with the bones of one or 

 two smaller forms of the related genus, the mastodon. At a 

 slightly higher level was the multitude of remains belonging 

 to an extinct species of bison which came just before our 

 so-called buffalo, while near the surface of the ground was 

 found the waste of the creatures which were in the field when 

 it was first seen by the white men. A very careful search 

 failed to reveal any trace of man until the uppermost level was 

 attained. The facts, which cannot well be discussed here, 

 have led me to the conclusion- that only a few thousand years 

 can have elapsed since the mammoth and the mastodon plen- 

 tifully abounded in North America ; but I am forced to doubt 

 whether our savages were here in time to make acquaintance 

 with these animals. 



It is not certain that the extermination of the ereat north- 



