Natural Hiftory of the Ancients, i o i 



fpe<5t him clofely, that the animal fo often fuppofed 

 to be figured on ancient Scottifh fculptured ftones, 

 though a ftrange beaft of fome peculiar conventional 

 type, is no elephant. That fpiral winding-up of his 

 fnout, which parted for a trunk, is a characteriftic 

 refuge of embryo art, repeated upon other parts 

 of the animal. It is neceffitated by the difficulty 

 which a primitive artift feels in bringing out the 

 form of an extremity, whatever it may be fnout, 

 horn, or hoof. He finds that the eafieft termina- 

 tion he can make is a whirl, and he makes it 

 accordingly. Thus the nofes, the tails, the feet 

 of the charaderiftic monfter of the fculptured 

 ftones all end in a whirl. The fame difficulty is 

 met in repeated inftances in thefe ftones by another 

 ingenious refource. Animals are united or twined 

 together by nofes or tails, to enable the artift to 

 efcape the difficulty of executing the extremities of 

 each feparately." 1 Thefe remarks are perhaps more 

 ingenious than convincing when we remember 

 the extreme love for the fpiral and for convoluted 

 and parallel ornamentation which extended into 

 the Saxon and Norman decoration of churches. 

 There was doubtlefs a myftic fignification attached 

 to the many curious fpiral lines of early North- 

 Britifti fculptures. 



Much information has recently appeared refpect- 

 ing the mammoth, which will here be condenfed. 

 The Arabs in the ninth and two fucceeding cen- 

 turies mowed immenfe enterprife and energy, their 



1 " The Bookhunter," p. 399 ; and fee " The Ancient 

 Sculptured Stones of Scotland " (Spalding Society, 2 vols. fol.). 



