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ELEPHANT OF THE LENA. 
before seen was more disengaged from the blocks 
of ice, and had two projecting parts, but was still 
unable to make out its nature. Towards the end 
of the following summer, (1801,) the entire side 
of the animal, and one of his tusks, were quite free 
from the ice. On his return to the borders of the 
lake Oncoul, he communicated this extraordinary 
discovery to his wife and some of his friends ; but 
the way in which they considered the matter 
filled him with grief. The old men related on 
the occasion their having heard their fathers say, 
that a similar monster had been formerly seen in 
the same peninsula, and that all the family of the 
person who discovered it had died soon afterwards. 
The Mammoth was, in consequence, unanimously 
considered as an augury of future calamity, and 
the Tungusian chief was so much alarmed that 
he fell seriously ill ; but becoming convalescent, 
his first idea was the profit which he might obtain 
by selling the tusks of the animal, which were of 
extraordinary size and beauty. He ordered that 
the place where the Mammoth was found should 
be carefully concealed, and that strangers should, 
under different pretexts, be diverted from it, at 
the same time charging trust-worthy people to 
watch that the treasure was not carried off. 
“ But the summer of 1802, which was less 
warm and more windy than common, caused the 
Mammoth to remain buried in the ice, which had 
