68 FOSSIL MAMMALIA. 



where they have been most usually found, might be considered 

 as the remains of a more extensive fluid which had overwhelmed 

 them. 



Mr. Barton considers that the salt water has been a main 

 cause of their preservation. It would even appear that some 

 soft parts have been occasionally found, which, considering the 

 heat of the climate, is wonderful. Some savages, who saw five 

 skeletons in 1762, informed Mr. Barton that one of the heads 

 had *' a long nosey under which was the mouth T and Kalm, 

 speaking of a large skeleton discovered in a marsh, in the 

 country of the Illinois, and which he took for that of an ele- 

 phant, says that the form of the beak was still observable, 

 though half decomposed. These two facts seem to confirm the 

 opinion, that the triturated plants above-mentioned were, in 

 reality, the materials which filled the stomach of the animal. 



Many hypotheses have been formed on the origin of these 

 bones, and the causes of the animaPs destruction. The Shavanois 

 believe that men of similar proportions existed with those 

 animals, and that the Great Spirit destroyed both with his 

 thunders. The savages of Virginia say, that a troop of these 

 tremendous quadrupeds destroyed for some time the deer, the 

 buffalo, and all the other animals created for the use of the 

 Indians, and spread desolation far and wide. At last '* the 

 Mighty Man above'*' seized his thunder and killed them all, 

 with the exception of the largest of the males, who, presenting 

 his head to the thunderbolts, shook them off as they fell, but, 

 being wounded in the side, he betook himself to flight towards 

 the great lakes, where he still resides at the present day. 



Such stories sufficiently prove that the Indians have no know- 

 ledge of the actual existence of the species in those countries 

 over which they wander. 



Lamanon imagined the mastodon to be some unknown species 

 of the cetacea. A.M. de la Coudreniere having found, in some ac- 

 count of Groenland, that the savages of that country pretended 

 to an animal, black and hairy, of the form of a bear, and six 



