General Parsons^ Discoveries in the Western Counirij. Vl% 



entire measured forty nine inches in length. Parts of sev- 

 eral jaw bones were found, hut not an entire one. Some 

 teeth were found in, and some out of tlie jaw, one of which 

 I herewith send yon. Part of a tusk we also had : two of 

 the teeth I brought home ; one, the corresponding tooth of 

 the opposite jaw, is at Yale College : the other bone we 

 boxed and left at Pittsburgh. Of this animal the natives have 

 no tradition, but that which is so fabulous, that no conjec- 

 ture can be aided by it; unless it be, that the animal was 



w 



a carniverous one. It is observable, that the bones of this 



w 



animal are only found near salt licks, and in low soft 

 grounds. 



In my progress further down the Ohio to the Rapids, 

 nothing occurred worth communicating to your society; 

 unless the petrifactions at the Rapids, and in sundry other 



aces near the river, may be an object of attention. That 

 elementary water does not possess this quality, I suppose to 

 be an opinion too clear, to admit of objection. The great- 

 est quantity of petrifactions, I saw, were at the falls. I was 



there when the 



jQat stones which 



► 



extended across the river, and over which the waters gene- 

 rally flow, were bare, on both sides the river, as much as one 

 fifth of a mile on each side. On the S. E. side, I observed 



nettifactions. On the N. W. side, they were in great 



no 



plenty, of almost every kind of vegetable production ; and 

 in every stage of the process, from their native state, to a 

 perfect stone. Hornets' and birds' nests, nuts, roots, branch- 

 es of trees, leaves, bones, &c. &c. were in great abund- 



ance. 



