The herald., 1893-09-17
HISTORY OF THE MAMMOTH,
Prehistoric Monsters Preserved
in Arctic lee.
A Trade Exists on the Ivory From
Their Fossil Tusks.
An Animal whose Remains Are Found
All Over the World-A Theory
That They Were sud-
denly Exterminated.
lDr ster hen Bowers in visalia ob+erver,l

[Dr Stel hen Bowers in Visalia Observer.l
! While the monsters that we have
described in previons chapters per-
| ished many ages before man appeared
on the earth, and have never been seen
by him alive, the monster OF which we
are about to write has been eeen by man
and it's tesh eaten by him. That, how
ever, was after it had been entombed
| for untold ages in the ice of arctic re-
gions. The remains of the mammoth
are widely diffused over the earth.
They have been found in great abund-
ance not only in North America, but
also in the frozen regions of Siberia, and
indeed all over Asiatic Russia. They
are found in England, Ireland, Ger
many, Poland, Russia, Greece, Spain,
and in Africa and Asia. The science of
paleon tology was founded largely on
the remains of the mammoth. In an
ancient Chinese work dating some 500
years 3. c., the mammoth is spoken OF,
and the Chinese seem to have had a
! knowledge of their frozen remains in
Arctic lands. For a long period they
have obtained supplies of mammoth
tusks from northern Siberia. AS far
back as the tenth century an active
trade has been carried on in fossil
ivory. 1t is estimated that during the
past two centuries more than 200 pairs
of iossil tusks have come into the mar
ket annually. and the localities where
found are Jar from being exhausted.
After more than 200 pairs have been
obtained from northern regions the
traveller fnds them increasing as he ap-
proaches toward the North Pole. Is is
said that the soil Of Bear island and
Liachoff island, New Siberia, consists OF
sand and ice, with such quantities OF
mammoth remains that they appear as
If they were made up OF bones and
tusks.
/ But not only have the fossil remains
of the mammoth been found all over
arctic lands as far as man has pene-
trated, but their bodies, as we have in
timated, have been found intact frozen
and preserved in the ice. In the year
1900 the entire body of mammoth was
discovered in vast stratum of ice on
the bonks Of the river Lena. Afterward
it became disengaged from it's icy
matrix and white bears, wolves, foxes
and dogs fed off it's fesh. 1t was a male
years after its discovery Mr.. Adams yis-
tied the spot and found most of the car
cass remaining. Polar bears and other
animals had trampied the long hair into
the earth, but he recovered about TO
pounds weight and brought it away,
with the eyes and portion OF the
skin, which are preserved in the st.
Petersburg museum. The ekin was OF
dark gray color, covered with black
hair and reddish wool. The ears were
covered with tufts of hair.
A young Russian engineer named
Benkendorf, in the employ OF the gov
ernment, ascended the Indigirka in
steamer in 1916. The season was un-
usually warm for Siberia, and the coun-
try was flooded with water. The stream,
which was greatly swollen, cut new
channels in many places, melting the
ice and frozen soil. In one OF these
newly cut channels he discovered
mammoth in an upright position, where
it had been overwhelmed probably thou
sands of years previously. AS it's head
and trunk rose and fell with the surging
waters he discovered that it was still
fastened in the ice and frozen soil by its
hind feet. The monster was secured by
throwing ropes and chains over its tusks
and head, and after its hind feet were
released it was safely landed by the aid
of more than so men and horses. 1t
proved to be of gigantic size, and the
whole body was in fine state OF preser-
walton. In its stomach was found the
food that had formed its last repast,
which consisted of young shoots OF the
fir and pine, also young fir cones. On
the shoulders and along the back grew
stiff hairs about foot long. The hair
was dark brown and coarselv rooted.
Under the outer hair. there appeared
everywhere a soft, warm and thick wool
of fallow brown color.
The question naturally arises, What
causes operated in the extinction of
these monsters? This is answered,
and correctly we think, by the great
naturalist. CuvIer. He says the mann
moths could not possibly have lived in
Siberia as that country is now and that