Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-04-04

cold but pure and wholesome, this fefer-
enc to the GOODNESS. of the flesh apparent
ly pointing to their acquaintance with
frozen mammoth ~carcasses. In Europe
Erginhard, the historian of Charlemagne
states that among the presents sent to the
Emperor of the West by the Kalif Har-
ounal Raschid in the year S07 were the
horn of 'licorne'' and a claw of a griffon.
These ~rarities We're long preserved in the
royal treasury at st. Denis, and from a
description given in a work dated 1916, it
appears that, while the former was a
mammoth tusk, the latter was the horn
of the woolly Siberian rhinoceros. Dur
ing the ninth and tenth century Arab
traders appear to have established a trade
route from Northern Russia or Siberia
to Persia or Syria, and their records re-
fer to the occurrence of buried ivory near
the city of Bolghari, on the Volga, which
was probably situated on or near the
site of the modern Mini Novogorod. The
first Siberian mammoth tusk imported
into Western Europe IN modern times
was brought to London in the year 1911
by n Josias Logan, by whom it had
been purchased from the Samoyedes Of
the Peclora district, Concerning this spe-
cimen Baron Nordenskiold writes that as
Englishnen at that time visited Moscow
frequently and for long periods, a re-
mark occurring in Purchas's history ap-
pears to indicate that fossil ivory first
became known in the capital of Russia,
some time after the conquest of Siberia.
Be this as it may. it is in evidence from
the account of Avril, who travelled in
Russia during 1865. hat fossil ivory
was at that time imported into China
and other Asiatic countries, where it
was highly esteenled; and it is stated
that it was largely employed by Turks
and Persians for ornamenting sword
and dagger hits, being preferred to In
dian ivory on account of its whittier color
and finer grain. And here it may be in
~cidentalIy mentioned that, according to
the same author, the Russian term mann
mcut is a corruption OF the Hebrew be-
helnot, or behemoth, which the Arabs
made mehelnGt. Canon Tristram is,
however. of opinion that in the Bible be-
hemoth OTTER refers to the hiDpopotamus;
and, if this be correct, a transferrence of
the name would appear to have been
made by Arabs. this being the less i'm
probable since it is stated in Hebrew tc
be applicable to any large beast.
Apart from this there is a record that
about 1922 Peter the Great ordered the
collection of tusks and other remains OF
the mammoth for the museum of st
Petersburg. And between 1750 and 1870 a
Russian trader. named Liakoff, estab-
lished an extensive importation of mann
moth ivory from the districts lying be-
tween the khotanga and Anadyr rivers
and likewise from one of the southern
most islands of the New Siberian group
which still bears his own name. Surveys
subsequently made by the Government III
those islands Indicated that the soil is
teeming with the bones, tusks and teeth
of mammoths, while the adjacent mu(
banks exposed at low tide are equally
prolific. Some idea of their abundance
may be gathered from the account givef
by Dr.. Bungc. who visited Liakoff ISLAND
from 1882 to 1884, and in the course O.
three short sumnlerSc collected no less thar
two thousand five hundred selected sDeci
mems. In the New Siberian Islands thu
thermometer now often falls to so degree:
C~entigrade below freezing point, so tina
collecting is an impossibility during thu
winter. With regard to the amount Or
mammoth ivory that comes into the
market, accounts are by no means so nu
merOus nor so accurate as might be de
sired. 1t is stated, however, that in 1872
a Yakut brought back five hundred pud
Uorty pounds to the pud) from the New
Siberian Islands, and between the year
1926 and 1881 the amount annually solt
in Yak1ltsk ranged between one Thousand
five hundred and two thousand pud
in addition to that disposed of at othe
towns. Many writer's speak Of seeing
boatloads of tusks on the Lena and Yeni
sei-a steamer which carried Baron Nor
densliold in 1875 having q cargo of owe
one hundred pud. About the year 1910 Dr.
MiGden!lorff, who visited the countr!
estimated that the nnual output of 81
berian ivory reached 11C,00 pounds, rep
rcsenting at least a hundred individual
mammotlls, so chat the total number o
animals whose remains have been eX
ported since the conquest of Siberia
must be between twenty thousand ant
thirty thousand. And since Midendorff
estimate probably errs on the side of be
ing too low, the numbers nay AVE bee,
considerably in excess of this.