FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 53 



culty in removing them. More than thirty pounds weight of 

 hairs and bristles were carried away, which had been sunk into 

 the humid soil by the white bears when devouring the flesh. 

 The animal was a male. The tusks were more than nine feet 

 long, and the head, without the tusks, weighed more than four 

 hundred pounds. Mr. Adams collected, with the utmost care, 

 all the remains of this singular and valuable relic of a former 

 creation. He re-purchased the tusks at Yakutsk, and received 

 for the whole from the Emperor Alexander eight thousand 

 rubles. 



These are not the only discoveries of the kind made in the 

 Russian empire ; and facts so well authenticated and detailed 

 will not permit us to doubt of anterior testimonies on the same 

 subject, while they also prove a most important point, namely, 

 that these animals must have been arrested by the ice at the 

 moment of their death. 



A most extraordinary circumstance, which we read in the 

 account of Belling's voyage, is, that certain islands in the Icy 

 sea abound more in elephantine remains, in proportion to their 

 extent, than any other part of the globe ! These islands lie 

 to the north of Siberia, opposite to the shore which separates 

 the mouth of the Lena from that of the Indigirska. That 

 which is nearest to the continent is thirty-six leagues in length. 

 The whole island, with the exception of a few little rocky moun- 

 tains, is composed of a mixture of sand and ice. Accordingly, 

 when thaw takes place, the bones of the mammoth are found 

 in the most prodigious abundance. Nay, this writer adds, 

 (following the report of an eye-witness,) that the whole island 

 is composed of the bones of this extraordinary animal, of the 

 horns and crania of the buffalo, or some animal which re- 

 sembles it, and some horns of the rhinoceros. That this is ex- 

 aggeration there can be little doubt, but it serves to prove the 

 wonderful abundance of those fossil remains. 



In a second island, about five leagues farther, these bones 

 and teeth are also found ; but in a third, about five and twenty 

 leagues to the north, they are no longer discovered. 



