FOSSIL ELEPHANT, OR MAMMOTH. 253 



bank of which does not afford remains of the mammoth ; 

 and these are frequently imbedded in, or covered with, 

 alluvial soil, containing marine productions. The bones 

 are generally dispersed, seldom occurring in complete 

 skeletons, and still more rarely do we find the fleshy part 

 of the animal reserved. One of the most interesting in- 

 stances on record of the preservation of the carcass of 

 this animal, is given by M. Cuvier in the following rela- 

 tion.* 



"In the year 1799, a Tungusian fisherman observed 

 a strange shapeless mass projecting from an ice-bank, 

 near the mouth of a river in the north of Siberia, the 

 nature of which he did not understand, and which . was 

 so high in the bank as to be beyond his reach. He next 

 year observed the same object, which was then rather 

 more disengaged from among the ice, but was still un- 

 able to conceive what it was. Towards the end of the 

 following summer, 1801, he could distinctly see that it 

 was the frozen carcass of an enormous animal, the entire 

 flank of which and one of its tusks had become disengag- 

 ed from the ice. In consequence of the ice beginning 

 to melt earlier and to a greater degree than usual ir> 1803, 

 the fifth year of this discovery, the enormous carcass 

 became entirely disengaged, and fell down from the ice- 

 crag on a sand-bank forming part of the coast of the 

 Arctic ocean. In the month of March of that year, the 

 Tungusian carried away the two tusks, which he sold for 

 the value of fifty rubles ; and at this time a drawing was 

 made of the animal, of which I possess a copy. 



* This singular discovery is given by Professor Cuvier, as taken from 

 a Report in the Supplement to the Journal du Nord, No. xxx. by M 

 Adams, adjunct member of the Academy of St. Petersburgh. 



