I 
Description of the Remains of a Mammoth . 221 
been eaten away, and the upper part, being destroyed, 
exhibited the teeth. The brain was still within the era- 
nium, but it appeared dry. 
The parts least damaged are a fore foot and a hind one ; 
they are covered with skin, and have still the sole at- 
tached. According to the assertion of the Toungouse 
chief, the animal had been so large and well fed, that its 
belly hung down below the knee joints. This mammoth 
is a male, w ith a long mane at his neck, but it has no tail 
and no trunk. The skin, three -fourths of which are in 
my possession, is of a deep gray, and covered with a 
reddish hair and black bristles. The humidity of the 
soil where the animal has lain so long, has made the bris- 
tles lose some part of their elasticity. The entire car- 
case, the bones of which I collected upon the spot, is four 
archines and a half high by seven long, from the tip of the 
nose to the coccyx without however comprehending 
the two horns, each of which is a toise and a half long, 
and both together weigh ten pouds.f The head alone 
weighs eleven pouds and an half. 
The principal object of my care was to separate the 
bones, to arrange them and place them in safety : this was 
done with the most scrupulous nicety, and I had the sa- 
tisfaction of finding the other shoulder-blade, which lay 
in a hole. I afterwards caused the skin to be stripped 
from the side upon which the animal had lain ; it was 
very well preserved. This skin was of such an extra- 
ordinary w eight, that ten persons who were employed to 
carry it to the sea side, in order to stretch it on floating 
wood, moved it w ith great difficulty. After this opera- 
tion I caused the ground to be dug in various places in 
order to see if there w ere any bones around, but chiefly 
* An archine is a little more than two feet English measure, 
f A poud is forty pounds. 
