MASTODONS, MAMMOTHS AND OTHER PLEISTOCENE MAMMALS 23 



a result of these instructions, Lord Cornbury sent to the secretary 

 of the Royal Society one of the teeth and some of the bones found 

 at Claverack in 1705. A letter from Lord Cornbury, dated at New 

 York and addressed to the secretary, gives further details of the 

 discovery of the specimens and an account of the excavations car- 

 ried on under his (Cornbury's) direction. 



" I did, by the Virginia fleet, send you a Tooth, which, on the 

 outside of the box, was called the tooth of a Giant, and I desired 

 it might be given to Gresham College : I now send you some of his 

 bones, and I am able to give you this account. The tooth I sent 

 was found near the side of Hudson's river, rolled down from a 

 high bank by a Dutch country-fellow, about twenty miles on this 

 side of Albany, and sold to one Van Bruggen for a gill of rum. 

 Van Bruggen being a member of the Assembly, and coming down 

 to New York to the Assembly, brought the tooth with him, and 

 show'd it to several people here. I was told of it, and sent for it 

 to see, and ask'd if he would dispose of it; he said it was worth 

 nothing, but if I had a mind to it, 'twas at my service. Thus I came 

 by it. Some said 'twas the tooth of a human creature; others, of 

 some beast or fish ; but nobody could tell what beast or fish had such 

 a tooth. I was of opinion it was the tooth of a giant, which gave 

 me the curiosity to enquire farther. One Mr. Abeel, Recorder of 

 Albany, was then in town, so I directed him to send some person 

 to dig near the place where the tooth was found ; which he did, and 

 that you may see the account he gives me of it, I send you the origi- 

 nal letter he sent me : you must allow for the bad English. I desire 

 these bones may be sent to the tooth, if you think fit. When I go 

 to Albany next, I intend to go to the place myself, to see if I can 

 discover anything more concerning the monstrous creature, for so 

 I think I may call it." 



Mr Abeel's letter runs thus : 



"According to you Excellency's order, I sent to Klaverak to make 

 a further discovery about the bones of that creature, where the 

 great tooth of it was found. They have dug on the top of the bank 

 where the tooth was roll'd down from, and they found, fifteen feet 

 underground, the bones of a corpse that was thirty feet long, but 

 was almost all decayed; so soon as they handled them they broke 

 in pieces; they took up some of the firm pieces, and sent them to 

 me, and I have ordered them to be delivered to your Excellency." 22 



!a Weld, Hist, of Royal Soc, London, 1848. 



