THE MAMMOTH. 59 



epoch. That the mammoth did survive is evident from 

 the sketches of it which have been recovered. 



In reference to the time when the mammoth first entered 

 Europe we can speak with more certainty than when it 

 began to exist in Siberia. Some would date its existence 

 in Siberia prior to the glacial epoch, and those which have 

 been found entombed in the ice have remained there ever 

 since its close, while others would refer it to the time cor- 

 responding with the Mammoth or Inter-Glacial Epoch 

 of Europe, and still others would have us deny all the in- 

 contestable facts and date its existence to very recent times. 

 There is an important point which should be observed: 

 Under the gravel, mud, and ice that contain the remains 

 of the mammoth, there has been found a layer of pure ice, 

 the thickness of which is unknown. So far as is now 

 known the climate of Siberia was cold long before the 

 mammoth sought a retreat there, and the probability is 

 that this climate ante-dates the glacial age. Having lived 

 on the Western Hemisphere before the glacial age, it is 

 very probable that it lived on the Eastern also before that 

 time, which would date its beginning back several hundred 

 thousand years. Some of the remains found in the Middle 

 States give evidence of a very high antiquity, and others 

 appear to be very recent. M. Lartet was of opinion that 

 these animals lived in Siberia long before they found their 

 way into Europe. 



VIII. DESTRUCTIOX. 



Many theories have been propounded in accounting for 

 the final destruction of the mammoth. There is one solu- 

 tion which seems to be plausible and does away with the 

 speculations concerning a sudden revolution for their extir- 

 pation. A map of Siberia will show that all the great 

 rivers flow from south to north, from temperate to arctic 

 regions. Some of these rivers are among the largest in 



