104 



NATURAL HISTORY OF 



TRADITIONS 

 RESPECTING EXTINCT SPECIES. 



THOUGH the remains of Mastodon angustidens, found 

 on an elevated site of Peru, of Toxodon, Macrau- 

 chenia, and Mylodon, may, in America, point to a more 

 remote antiquity ; the bones of Megatherium, in Brazil, 

 are on or near the surface, in a recent state, and in 

 the same condition as those of horse, often accompany- 

 ing them, whose bones are, nevertheless, accepted as 

 belonging to an extinct species ; now, could they have 

 resisted disintegration during four or five thousand 

 years, considering both of these to have lain exposed to, 

 or at least within the influence of a tropical sun, and the 

 periodical rains ? Yet they occur often on the surface, 

 and the bones of the pelvis have been used for tempo- 

 rary fire places, by the aborigines, wandering on the 

 Pampas, beyond the memory of man. In North 

 America, although such remains as are now usually 

 discovered have lain sunken in clay or mud, deposited 

 by former lakes, the fact is not invariable ; and exclu- 

 sive of Dr. Lund's discoveries in Brazil, there are 

 native legends, which indicate traditional knowledge 

 of more than one species. Such is that of the great 

 Elk or Buffalo, which, besides its enormous horns, had 

 an arm protruding from its shoulder, with a hand at 

 the extremity (a proboscis). Another, the Tagesho, or 

 Yagesho, was a giant Bear, long bodied, broad down 



