2 Quadrupeds. 



signifies the earth; others derive the name from the Arabic word 

 Behemoth, employed in the book of Job for some large or unknown 

 animal, ox ixovn Mehemoth, an Arab term applied to elephants when of 

 extraordinary size. By the name of mammoth -horns the Siberians 

 designate the fossil tusks which are so numerous and in such excellent 

 preservation throughout the northern districts, that they are employed 

 for exactly the same purposes as recent ivory, and form an important 

 branch of commerce, which the czars have endeavoured exclusively 

 to monopolize. 



The fable of a subterranean animal is known to the Chinese, who 

 call the tusks of the mammoth the teeth of tien-schu, under which 

 word we find in the great work on Natural History, the following ac- 

 count. " The animal called iien-sclm, tyn-schu, or yn-sclin (signi- 

 fying the mouse which conceals itself), lives entirely in subtenanean 

 caverns ; in form it resembles a mouse, but is equal to an ox or a buf- 

 falo in size. It has no tail, and is of a dark colour ; it is exceedingly 

 strong, and digs caverns in which it lives, in rocky and woody places." 

 Another author writes thus : — " The tyn-schu only frequents dark and 

 lonely places : it dies instantly on seeing the rays of the sun or moon : 

 its legs are short in proportion to its body, so that it walks badly : its 

 tail is the length of a Chinese ell : its eyes are small and its neck 

 bent: it is a stupid and slothful animal. On the occasion of the in- 

 undation caused by the river Tan-schuann-tuy, in 1571, many tyn- 

 schu were seen in the plain : they fed on the roots of the plant called 

 fu-kia^ Again : — " The animal call Jin-schu is only found in the 

 cold regions on the banks of the river Tai-tunn-giann, and thence 

 northward as far as the northern ocean. It is like a mouse, but as 

 large as an elephant : it is afraid of the light, and resides wholly un- 

 derground in dark grottoes : its bones are white, like ivory, and easily 

 worked, and are without cracks : its flesh is cold, and very whole- 

 some." 



It is doubtless owing to the great profit arising from the sale of the 

 tusks of mammoths that the Russians and Siberians have been indu- 

 ced to search for them so diligently, and thus found such vast numbers 

 of bones throughout that extensive country: to this it may be added, 

 that the immense rivers which flow into the Frozen Ocean become 

 prodigiously swollen annually, when the thaw commences, break up 



* These details are extracted from a note communicated to the Academy of St. 

 Petershurgh by M. Klaproth, and were printed by Tilesius in the Mcmoires of tliat 

 Academy, torn. v. p. 409. 



