52 THE MAMMOTH. 



ously found along the route of the Carthagenian army. 

 But as these bones are found where no Carthagenian ever 

 trod, or any army with elephants in its train, the fact no 

 longer becomes plausible. Even if the remains of ele- 

 phants were only found along the route of Hannibal, their 

 position in the earth, as well as their distinct variety, would 

 preclude the idea that they came from Africa with the 

 Carthagenians. 



In 1799, Ossip Schumachoff, a Tungusian chief, while 

 seeking for mammoth tusks at the mouth of the river 

 Lena, found a shapeless mass frozen in the ice. The fol- 

 lowing year he noticed that this mass was more disengaged 

 from the blocks of ice, and had two projecting parts, but 

 was still unable to make out what it could be. It was not 

 until the summer of 1801 that the hunter knew upon what 

 he had stumbled. The animal still remained buried, but 

 a portion of it was sufficiently exposed to disclose what it 

 really was. Returning to his home Schumachoff told his 

 family what he had seen, which caused great consterna- 

 tion and even sickness, for they believed that the discovery 

 of the mammoth entire must result in death to the whole 

 household. Death, however, did not ensue. Recovering 

 from his almost fatal sickness into which his superstitious 

 fear had thrown him, he revisited the spot in March, 1804. 

 In the meantime, however (1803), the ice between the 

 mammoth and earth having melted faster than the rest 

 the enormous mass fell on a bank of sand. The hunter 

 cut off the tusks and sold them to a merchant for thirty- 

 six dollars and fifty cents. The people of that neighbor- 

 hood cut off the flesh, with which they fed their dogs; 

 wild beasts, such as white bears, wolves, wolverines, and 

 foxes fed upon it, until the skeleton was almost entirely 

 cleared of its flesh. "According to the assertion of the 

 Tungusian discoverer, the animal was so fat that its belly 

 hung down below the joints of the knees. This mammoth 



