144 
ELEPHANT OF THE LENA. 
content with his profit from the tusks, and the 
Jakutski of the neighbourhood had cut off the 
flesh with which they fed their dogs during the 
scarcity. Wild beasts, such as white bears, 
wolves, wolverenes, and foxes, also fed upon it, 
and the traces of their footsteps were seen around. 
The skeleton, almost entirely cleared of its flesh, 
remained whole, with the exception of one fore 
leg.* * * § The spine from the head to the os coccygis,f 
one scapula, the basin, and the other three extre- 
mities, were still held together by the ligaments 
and by parts of the skin. 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 eleven thou 
sand wersts, (seven thousand three hundred and 
thirty miles.) Yet the eyes have been preserved, 
and the pupil of the left eye can still be distin 
guished.§ The point of the lower lip had been 
gnawed, and the upper one having been destroyed, 
the teeth could be perceived. The brain was 
still in the cranium, but appeared dried up. 
* This has been restored in plaster of Paris from the 
other side. 
t This is an error, as of twenty-eight or thirty caudal 
vertebra, only eight are remaining. 
| The ears are not well preserved, but may perhaps 
have suffered in so long a carriage. 
§ A dried substance is visible, but it is not certain 
whether it is the pupil of the eye. 
