310 PICTURESQUE SKETCHES 



sixteen feet four inches long, without including the 

 tusks, which measured nine feet six inches along the 

 curve. The distance from the base or root of the 

 tusk to the point is three feet seven inches. The 

 two tusks together weighed three hundred and sixty 

 pounds English weight, and the head alone four 

 hundred and fourteen pounds. The skin was of such 

 weight, that it required ten persons to transport it to 

 the shore; and after having cleared the ground, up- 

 wards of thirty-six pounds of hair was collected, 

 which the white bears had trodden in while devour- 

 ing the flesh." 



A part of the hair of this animal is in the Museum 

 of the Royal College of Surgeons of London. It con- 

 sists of two sorts, common hair and bristles ; and of 

 each there are several varieties, differing in length and 

 thickness. That remaining fixed in the skin is thick- 

 set and crisply curled ; and it is interspersed with a 

 few bristles about three inches long, of a dark reddish 

 colour. Among the separate parcels of hair, are 

 some rather redder than the short hair just men- 

 tioned, about four inches long, and some bristles, 

 nearly black, much thicker than horse-hair, and from 

 twelve to eighteen inches long. 



Thus, then, we find that the elephant of the north 

 temperate and Arctic zone was in most respects ex- 

 ceedingly like the species now inhabiting India, and, 

 with the exception of a warm woolly and hairy cover- 

 ing, offered but little modification of structure. It 

 was said by the native who discovered the carcase, 

 that it had been so loaded with fat, that the belly 

 hung down below the joints of the knees. The food 

 of the creature was probably twigs and the branches 



