Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1875-04-21
MISCELLANY.
The Mammoth (EIeplds Irimige1du

An elephant of huge size, with enor-
nous tusks, much more curved than
those of existing species. The remains
of this animal, which became extinct
in Europe at so early period that not
the slightest tradition of its former ex-
istence has survived, are found in the
Old World from the northernmost
parts of Siberia to. the extreme west of
Europe it ranged as far southwark as
the north of Italy, but does not seem
to have existed south of the Pyrenees.
Bones of the mammoth also occur in
North America, from Behring Strait to
South Carolina. These elephants
abounded in Siberia, where their car
casses repeatedly have been found i'm
bedded in ice, the flesh and skin still
well preserved. Toward the beginning
of this century Tungusian hunter dis
covered one inclosed by ice near the
mouth of the river Lena. He waited
until the animal had become exposed
by the melting of its icy shroud, and
then cut off its tusks, which he sold
for fifty rubles. The flesh of the body
afforded for some time food to the dogs
kept by the people of the neighbor-
hood, and to white bears, wolves, foxes
and other wild beasts, until finally Mr..
Adams, a member of the Academy of
st. Petersburg, who travelled in that
direction, put a stop to these ravages,
and took pains to save the remains
from further destruction. The skele-
ton was almost complete, excepting q
fore-leg which the animals of prey had
carried off. According to the asser-
tion of the Tungusian discoverer, says
Professor Owen, ''the animal was so
fat that its belly hung down below the
joints of the knees. This mammoth
was a male, with long name on the
neck the tail was much mutilated,
only eight out of the twenty-eight
caudal vertebre remaining; the pro-
boscis was gone, bat the places of the
insertion of the muscles were visible
on the skull the skin, of which about
three-fourths were saved, was of q dark
gray color, covered with a reddish wool
and coarse long black hairs. The
dampness of the spot where the animal
had lain SO long had in some degree
DESTROYED the hair. The entire skele-
ton, from the fore part of the skull to
the end of the mutilated tail, measured
sixteen feet four inches its height was
nine feet four inches. The tusks meas
ured along the curve nine feet six
inches, and In straight line from the
base to the point three feet seven
inches. Mr.. Adams detached the skin
on the side on which the animal had
lain, which was well preserved the
weight of the skin was such that ten
persons found great difficulty in trans
porting it to the shore. After this the
ground was dug in different places to
ascertain whether any of its bones were
buried, but principally to collect all
the hairs which the white bears had
trod into the ground while devouring
the flesh, and more than thirty-six
pounds weight of hair was thus recov
cred. The tusks were purchased at
Yakutsk, and the whole then expedited
to st. Petersburg the skeleton is now
mounted in the Museum of the Petro-
politau Academy" -
Mammoth bones are found in great
number in Siberia, and the tusks form
a valuable article of commerce furnish
ing the so-called fossil ivory. Thou
sands of tusks have been collected and
used in turning, yet others are still
procured and sold in great plenty.
The mammoth roamed m large herds
over the plains of Siberia, where it fed
on the leaves of spruce and fir, and
even crushed twigs of considerable size
between its powerful molars. This
animal, it is believed by some, existed
for long time in Northern Asia be-
fore it found its way to Europe, in
which continent it does not seem to
have lived prior to the drift. Other
species of elephants, among the E2e-
phdS G'atiqitus, existed during the
drift time, but their remains occur less
frequently than those of the monarch.
-Harper's MaqQsine.