Distribution, Food and Climate of the Mammoth. 15 



turn to the borders of the Lake Oncoul, he communicated this 

 extraordinary discovery to his wife and some of his friends, but 



their reception of the news filled him with grief. The old men 



related how they had heard their fathers say, that a similar mon- 

 ster had been formerly discovered on the same peninsula, and 

 that all the family of the person who had discovered it had died 

 soon afterwards. The Mammoth was consequently regarded as 

 an augury of future calamity, and the Tungusian was so much 

 alarmed that he fell seriously ill ; but becoming convalescent, his 

 first idea was the profit he might obtain by selling the tusks of 

 the animal, which were of extraordinary size and beauty. The 

 summer of 1802 was less warm and more stormy than usual, and 

 the icy shroud of the Mammoth had scarcely melted at all. At 

 length, towards the end of the fifth year, (1803,) the desires of 

 the Tungusian were fulfilled ; for, the parts of the ice between 

 the earth and the Mammoth having melted more rapidly than 

 the rest, the plane of its support became inclined, and the enor- 

 mous mass fell by its own weight on a bank of sand. Of this, 

 two Tungusians who accompanied Mr. Adams were witnesses. 

 In the month of March, 1804, Schumachoff came to his Mam- 

 moth, and having cut off the tusks, exchanged them with a 



merchant, called Bultunoff, for goods of the value of fifty rubles. 



Two years afterwards, or the seventh after the discovery of 

 the Mammoth, Mr. Adams visited the spot, and " found the Mam- 

 moth still in the same place, but altogether mutilated. The 

 prejudices being dissipated because the Tungusian chief had re- 

 covered his health, there was no obstacle to prevent approach to 

 the carcass of the Mammoth ; the proprietor was content with 

 his profit from the tusks ; and the Jakutski of the neighborhood 

 had cut off the flesh, with which they fed their dogs during the 

 scarcity. Wild beasts, such as white bears, wolves, wolverines, 

 and foxes, also fed upon it, and the traces of their footsteps were 

 seen around." The skeleton, almost entirely cleared of its flesh, 

 remained whole with the exception of one foreleg, (probably 

 dragged off by the bears.) The spine, from the skull to the os 

 coccygis, one scapula, the pelvis, and the three remaining ex- 

 tremities, were still held together by the ligaments and by parts 

 of the skin. The head was covered with a dry skin ; one of the 

 ears, well preserved, was furnished with a tuft of hair. The 

 point of the lower lip had been gnawed ; and the upper one, with 

 the proboscis, having been devoured, the molar teeth could be 

 perceived. The brain was still in the cranium, but appeared 

 dried up : the parts least injured were one forefoot and one hind- 

 foot : they were covered with skin, and still had the sole attached. 

 According to the assertion of the Tungusian discoverer, the ani- 

 mal was so fat, that its belly hung down below the joints of the 

 knees. This Mammoth was a male, with a long mane on the 



