FROZEN MAMMOTH IN SIBERIA. 613 



that Tavlovski did not then instruct them to cover the mammoth with 

 earth. 



Early in Novem])er, 190(1, Yavlovski, accompanied b}" the Lamiits, 

 visited the mammoth. He cut a piece of skin from the head, a similar 

 piece from the left thigh, and secured a small portion of the stomach, 

 with its contents, and brought these, together with the tusk, to 

 Sredne-Kolynisk as proofs of the discovery, giving them to the assist- 

 ant police commissioner, N. L. Horn, who decided to convince himself 

 of the importance of the find and then to report the matter to the 

 governor of Yakutsk. The parts mentioned were therefore forwarded 

 to the Imperial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, where they 

 were due after our departure. 



' In the middle of December, Horn and Yavlovski together examined 

 the manmioth and reported the matter to the governor of Y^akutsk, 

 who in turn forwarded Horn's report to St. Petersburg. 



Septeiiiher 11^ 1901. — It was so warm to-day that the soil became 

 loose and easily handled, and I was able to begin the work of excava- 

 tion. The manunoth is located a third of a mile from our tents and 

 35 meters above the present level of the water, on the left bank 

 of the river Berezovka. The bod}' lies in a cliff that faces east and 

 extends for a mile in a semicircle. The demolished portion of the cliff 

 inclines toward the river at an angle of 35^ from the upper layer of 

 earth, over which extend the ''taiga," or Siberian marshy forest. 

 The surface of the cliff is 113 meters wide and 55 meters high. The 

 bod}' of the mannnoth is 62 meters back from the bank of the river. 

 According to measurements I took in different places the upper strata 

 of earth, covered with a layer of moss, is 30 to 52 centimeters thick. 

 Beneath this is a loamy mass, one-third loam and two-thirds earth, 

 averaging 2 meters in thickness, though in some places more than 

 4 meters thick, mixed with stones, roots, and pieces of wood, with 

 lamellar plates of ice, 15 to 18 centimeters thick, stretching through 

 the mass. Underneath this alluvial layer there is a vertical wall of 

 ice, which stands free for a distance of 5 meters, and in some places 

 even 7 meters above the mammoth. This ice wall probably inclines 

 to the river at the same angle as the entire cliff' region. I intend to 

 investigate this wall later. Upon this supposed ice incline are huge 

 shapeless earth masses and mounds, evidently moved downward dur- 

 ing heavy rains by the gradual thawing of the ice wall, as well as by 

 the water which falls from the upper "taiga" and from the hill, 120 

 meters high, that rises in the rear of the wall about a sixth of a mile 

 from the river bank. According to the Lamut natives of the region, 

 the head of the mammoth was exposed two years ago by this down- 

 ward movement, or by the breaking away of a considei-able mass of 

 earth; the rest of the body was exposed only at the end of August, 

 1900. 



