266 
SKETCHES OF CREATION. 
lulls, of seas into dry land, and vice versa ; 
but the geologist attributes the changes to 
time alone, and measures the different epochs 
by the various deposits. Thus, we find our 
author, in regular succession, dividing all 
time into different periods. For instance, 
the period antecedent to the introduction of 
life, and the deposits of rocks, on which there 
are no remains or evidences of a living crea- 
ture having existed : then the period of ex- I 
istence of invertebrated animals as the most j 
highly organised inhabitants of the sea ; the 
Silurian rocks : next, the introduction of j 
fishes ; the characteristic animals of the 
second fossiliferous period ; the Devonian, or 
old red sand-stone system of formations : next j 
comes the appearance of land, and the intro- j 
duction of land vegetables ; the carboniferous 
system, and the close, as it is called, of — I 
(we speak geologically) — the first epoch of! 
creation, indicated by the magnesian lime- j 
stone, or primary system of deposits. This 
epoch is the first of three great geological I 
divisions of the world's history, and the com- 
mencement of the second is distinguished by 
the formation of what is called the new red 
sand-stone. Then came the marine reptiles, 
and other animals characteristic of the lias ; 
then the gigantic land reptiles, ; the flying 
reptiles, and other animals characteristic of 
the Oolitic and "Wealden formations. From 
this the author proceeds to the consideration 
of the inhabitants of the earth during what is I 
called the cretaceous period, and a wind up of ! 
the secondary epoch, and the circumstances of ! 
its termination. All this is before the intro- 
duction of land animals, and the commence- 
ment of the so-called tertiary period, which j 
is called the third or modern epoch ; and 
herein are found the remains of extinct mon- 
sters, the skeletons and portions of which are j 
to be found in our public and private museums, 
and are ably described in the remaining chap- 
ters of the work. An account of a mammoth 
we can hardly abstain from noticing. There 
is something particularly interesting in the 
fact of bodies being preserved in ice. The 
author says : — 
" In the latter part of the summer of 1799, 
a native Tungusian fisherman, who was in the 
habit of collecting tusks for sale from among 
the blocks of ice and rubbish which had fallen 
from the cliffs, saw on the banks of Lake 
Oncoul, near the mouth of the Lena river, 
and projecting from the cliff, a mass of unu- 
sual form, but, from its shapeless appearance, 
he could make nothing of it. The year after, 
proceeding to his usual haunt, he noticed that 
this lump was somewhat disengaged and had 
two projecting parts ; and towards the end of 
the summer of 1801, when he again looked at 
it, he found it to consist of the whole side of 
a gigantic animal having large tusks, one of 
which projected from the ice. So slowly do 
changes take place in these districts, that the 
next summer being rather cold, no alteration 
was to be noted ; but in 1803 part of the ice 
between the earth and the monstrous animal 
was somewhat more melted than before, till 
the whole at length fell by its own weight on 
a bank of sand. Next year our fisherman 
came in the month of March, and cut off the 
tusks, which he soon sold for about the value 
of 50 roubles (about 7/. 10s.) Two years 
after this, in 1806, being the seventh year 
from the discovery of the carcase, these dis- 
tant and desert regions were traversed by Mr. 
Adams, an employe of the Court of Russia ; 
and his account of the rest of the history of 
this mammoth, the ancient elephant of northern 
Europe, is too interesting to be abridged, 
without the loss of much of its value as a 
vivid description of so extraordinary a phe- 
nomenon. 
" Mr. Adams states, ' At this time I found 
the mammoth still in the same place, but alto- 
gether mutilated. The prejudices being dissi- 
pated in consequence of the Tungusian (who 
had fallen sick from alarm on first hearing of 
the discovery, because it was considered a bad 
omen) having recovered his health, there was 
no obstacle to prevent approach to the carcase. 
The proprietor was contented with his profit 
for the tusks, and the Jakutski of the neigh- 
bourhood had cut off the flesh, with which 
they fed their dogs ; during the scarcity, wild 
beasts, such as white bears, wolves, wolverines, 
and foxes, also fed upon it, and the traces of 
their footsteps were seen around. The ske- 
leton, almost entirely cleared of its flesh, 
remained whole, with the exception of one 
fore-leg. The head was covered with a dry 
skin ; one of the ears, well preserved, was 
furnished with a tuft of hairs. All these parts 
have necessarily been injured in transporting 
them a distance of 7330 miles, (to St. Peters- 
burgh,) but the eyes have been preserved, 
and the pupil of one can still be distinguished. 
" ' The mammoth was a male, with a long 
mane on the neck. The tail and proboscis 
were not preserved. The skin, of which I 
possess three-fourths, is of a dark grey colour, 
covered with reddish wool and black hairs ; 
but the dampness of the spot, where it had 
lain so long, had in some degree destroyed 
the hair. The entire carcase, of which I 
collected the bones on the spot, was nine feet 
four inches high, and sixteen feet four inches 
long, without including the tusks, which 
measured nine feet six inches along the curve. 
The distance from the base or root of the tusk 
to the point is three feet seven inches. The 
two tusks together weighed three hundred and 
fixty pounds English weight,, and the head 
