THE MASTODON 171 



the shape of an elephant before the coming of the white 

 man. True, there is "The Lenape Stone," found near 

 Doyleston, Pa., in 1872, a gorget graven on one side 

 with the representation of men attacking an elephant, 

 while the other bears a number of figures of various 

 animals. The good faith of the finder of this stone is un- 

 impeachable, but it is a curious fact that, while this 

 gorget is elaborately decorated on both sides, no similar 

 stone, out of all that have been found, bears any image 

 whatsoever. On the other hand, if not made by the 

 aborigines, who made it, why was it made, and why 

 did nine years elapse between the discovery of the first 

 and second portions of the broken ornament? These are 

 questions the reader may decide for himself : the author 

 will only say that to his mind the drawing is too elabo- 

 rate, and depicts entirely too much to have been made 

 by a primitive artist. A much better bit of testimony 

 seems to be presented by a fragment of Fulgur shell 

 found near Holly oak, Del., and now in the United 

 States National Museum, which bears a very rudely 

 scratched image of an animal that may have been in- 

 tended for a mastodon or a bison. This piece of shell is 

 undeniably old, but there is, unfortunately, the un- 

 certainty just mentioned as to the animal depicted. 

 The familiar legend of the Big Buffalo that destroyed 

 animals and men and defied even the lightnings of the 

 Great Spirit has been thought by some to have origi- 

 nated in a tradition of the mastodon handed down from 

 ancient times; but why consider that the mastodon is 

 meant? Why not a legendary bison that has increased 

 with years of story-telling? And so the co-existence of 

 man and mastodon must rest as a case of not proven, 

 although there is a strong probability that the two did 

 live together in the dim ages of the past, and some day 

 the evidence may come to light that will prove it beyond 



