CHAPTER XIIL 
THE MAMMOTH, 
where the huntsman winds his matin horn. 
And the couched hare beneath the covert trembles ; 
Where shepherds tend their flocks, and grow their corn 
Where fashion in our gay Parade assembles — 
Wild horses, deer, and elephants have strayed, 
Treading beneath their feet old Ocean’s races.” 
Horace Smith. 
Many are the traditions and tales that have clustered round 
the Mammoth.^ He is, however, no fabulous product of the 
imagination, like the dragon, for he has actually been seen in the 
flesh, and not only seen, but eaten, both by men and animals ! 
But, for all that, men’s minds ha.ve been busy for centuries past 
making up tales, often of the wildest description, about him ; and 
it is little wonder that a creature whose bones are found in the 
soils and gravels, etc., over more than half the world, and whose 
body has been seen frozen in Siberian ice, should have given rise 
to many tales and superstitions. To students of folk-lore these 
legends are of considerable interest, and to some extent also to 
^ The word Mammoth is thought by Pallas and Nordenksiold to be of 
Tartar origin. The former asserts that the name originated in the word 
mamma, which signifies earth (the Mammoth being found frozen in the earth). 
It was introduced into the languages of Western Europe about two centuries 
ago, from the Russian. But other writers have attempted to prove that it is a 
corruption of the Arabic word Behemoth, or “great beast,” which in the Book 
of Job signifies an unknown animal. In an ancient Chinese work, of the fifth 
century before Christ, it is spoken of under the name iien-schu, that is to say, 
“ the mouse which hides itself.” The Chinese legends are referred to on p. 199. 
