Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1892-07-29

their remains behind them in such
localities. In them the scientific
explorer discovers the osseous relics
of beasts long extinct, which trod
the earth thousands upon thousands of
years ago. Quite commonly these bones
are not fossihzed, but, being preserved
by loamy sediment and limy iucrusta-
tion, actually retain their original gela-
tine. Often those found in a single
cavern, IF they could be clad in the flesh
again and walk abroad, would suffice to
furnish a score of as attractive menag-
cries as ever accompanied circus. Nay,
more, they would form mighty herds of
strange creatures, many OF them most
formidable and feroc.ous, such as are
only known to-day by skeletons more or
less incomplete.
One cave at Kirkdale in England was
opened accidentally not long ago by
quarrymen, having been closed and con-
cealed for ages by detritus overgrown
with grass. 1t was veritable charnel
house, crowded with the bones of
numerous species of animals, among
which were many of elephants, rhinoc-
eroses, hippopotami, tigers and hyena'.
There were also plentiful remains OF
bears, wolves, oxen, deer, foxes, wea;els
and several kinds of birds. lnasnucl
as the diameter of the hoe was only
about three or four feet it was evident
that the great beasts above mentioned
could not have died there. Undoubtedly
the bones we're fetched thither by hyenas,
which used the cavern as a den. But
what amazing conjectures respecting the
fauna OF Great Britain during the epoch
when these creatures lived are suggested
by the discovery Of such relics of giant
pacbyderms and great carniyores in that
region
Evidently the climate IL that latitude
must have been trop.cs during the life
time of the beasts. at present the ele'
phant, rhinoceros, hippopotanus an1
hyena are only found near the eq lAtor.
But in far northern Siberia, where now
eternal cold reigns, must formerly have
been everlasting summer, judging from
the fossil palms aud crocodiles found in
that region so abundantly. AloBg the
shores of the Arctic Ocean, from Arch.
angel to Bering Strait, the bones of ele
plants are occasionally discovered in
enormous heaps. AT the mouth of the
Lena River there are whole islands COM
posed OF such bones and mud. Such
quantities of them are sometimes lncased
in icebergs as to form an important ar
ticle of commerce, being melted out by
the heat of the sun during the short warm
season on the coast of Tungusia.
Lieutenant Kotzebue discovered in the
western part of the gulf to the north of
Bering Strait mountain of solid ice COW
cred with moss and grass. The surface
ef this extraordinary bill re, composed
of earth and sand, only about six inches
thick, beneath which the ice was grad
ually melting. As it melted great num-
bers of the bones and teeth of mammoths
were exposed to view. The story of the
mammoths carcass, found with all its
flesh entire in the frozen gravel OF Tuu.
gusia, where it had presumably been
buried for something like 100, 900 years,
is already familiar one, A few years
previously, in 177l, a woolly rhinoceros
in a similar condition OF preservation was
uueartho3 ia Siberia. TIE head aud feet
of the animal are now in a museum at
st. Petersburg, together with a large
quantity Of its WOOL So numerously arc
the remains of mammoths dug up in that
part Ct the world that their tusks thus
obtained have for many years formed a
large part of the entire market supply Of
ivory. The name "mammotb," mean
ing "animal Of the earth, was originally
conferred by the natives, who supposed
that the huge creature lived underground
like a mole.
However, in respect to the animal re-
mains found in it, the most remarkable
cave in the world is that at KIhlOch,
Germany. In this single cavern, the
size and proportions Of which are about
equal to those Of large church, there
are hundreds Of carloads OF black ami
nal dust covering the whole floor to a
depth Of more than six feet. The entire
quantity of this material, which IS con-
posed wholly of the disintegrAted bones
Of animals, would exceed 5000 cubic
feet. The condition of the fragments of
bones found in it is different from that
of such remains in any other cave, such
bones being black and readily crunbling
between the fingers into soft powder
like mummy powder, which is OF the
came nature as the black earth in which
they are embedded. The number of
individuals which contributed their
remains to make up this mass of the
dust of death must have been in the
thousands. Undoubtedly the dust is
aln exclusively from decayed bones,