THE MAMMOTH.
In one of the old Chinese histories, there is a description of a curious
creature called _tyn-schu_, supposed to be a subterranean, rat-like
animal. It lived, according to the old chroniclers, entirely beneath the
ground; was as large as an ox; and had enormous tusks, with which it
threw up the soil, or made its burrows; and the rumbling of earthquakes
was attributed to them. This was naturally considered a fable by
Europeans, but finally an English traveller was shown a piece of the
tusk. He found it to be ivory, and suspected that the strange animal
was a mammoth, as indeed was the case. The bodies of these elephantine
giants were found in the far North, buried in the tundra; and the simple
Chinamen believed that they lived there, and on their return from
trading-trips told the story in the South; and thus it became a part of
their curious and, it is needless to say, erroneous history.
[Illustration: MAMMOTH HUNT.
_Page 36._]
The mammoth may rightly be considered the king of all elephants, and in
general appearance it much resembled the African species. The full adult
may have been a third more bulky than the largest existing elephants,
and undoubtedly weighed at least twice as much. To protect them from
the cold, they were covered with hair, which gave them a ferocious
appearance. The hair was of three kinds: first there was a thick coat
of reddish wool; over this grew a coat of long, thick hair; while upon
the neck was a heavy mane. The tusks of the mammoth were enormous: some
measured thirteen feet in length; and, curved in a circle, gave the
animal a strange and formidable appearance.
While the mammoth greatly resembled the African elephant, there are some
points of difference. The skull is narrower at the summit, and the molar
teeth have great breadth of crown as compared to the length: the ridges
also are narrow and crowded, while the enamel is thin and straight, the
crimping that is seen in others being absent. The molars number, as in
other elephants, eight, at one time present; or, one and a portion of
another one each side of both jaws.
This huge elephant flourished principally in the far North; and, as its
remains are now found in the greatest abundance on the shores of the
Arctic Sea, it must have existed in vast herds. The majority of specimens
discovered are buried in the soil, that is now frozen the year round in
a solid mass for many feet. The finest specimen known is a skeleton in
the museum at St. Petersburg; the original having been discovered in
1799 by a poor fisherman named Schumachoff, a Tongoose, who every spring
followed down the Lena River that led into the Arctic Sea. One day while
engaged in following his vocation, he observed on the side of a tundra a
shapeless mass, appearing like some huge monster entombed. The following
year he returned to the same locality, and found that the object had
weathered out still more, and was a mammoth—a veritable frozen giant.
Still, he could not claim the fine tusks; and another year passed, and
then his family were so superstitions that they refused to consent to
his again visiting the strange animal that he had described. But finally,
five years after his first trip, he determined to again visit the scene
of his discovery. He sailed down the river in his small boat, and,
with mingled emotions of fear and curiosity, approached the imprisoned
monster. Raising his eyes on reaching the spot, he saw a great cavity in
the cliff, but the mammoth was gone. The ice had melted away, but beneath
where the giant had rested lay the enormous body. The tusks were still
intact; and Schumachoff carried them South in triumph, where he realized
fifty rubles from the sale, leaving the body—which, wonderful to relate,
was as fresh as if the animal had died only a week before—to the bears
and wolves.
We could hardly expect a poor fisherman to know that it was a valuable
scientific discovery, and it was only by accident that the story of the
strange animal reached the scientific world. Seven years later a Mr.
Adams visited the spot, where he found the mammoth still in the flesh,
with the exception of the fore-leg; and, even after this lapse of time,
its preservation was remarkable. The pupil of the eye was still intact;
and the brain rested in the cranium, the tissues being so perfect that
they could hardly be distinguished from those of a living animal. During
the interim between its fall upon the beach and Mr. Adams’s visit, it
had attracted numbers of wild animals,—bears, foxes, etc.,—that devoured
much of the meat, that had been preserved for perhaps thousands of years.
The neck of the animal was still covered with a long mane; and next to
the skin was a thick brown wool, that was evidently very valuable as a
protection against the severe cold. Much of the hair and wool of the huge
creature was ground into the soil, but thirty pounds of this reddish
wool was recovered. Mr. Adams purchased the tusks, which were nine feet
in length; and finally the entire skeleton was removed to St. Petersburg,
where it may still be seen.
From the description and measurements of the skeleton, Professor Ward has
made a restoration of this ancient giant, which gives a striking idea of
the grandeur of its appearance. (See Plate III.)
Dr. Pallas was the first to describe the mammoth with scientific
accuracy; and Blumenbach gave it its present name, _Elephas primigenius_.
In the northern countries it ranged the forests at one time in vast
numbers, being especially common in England and Wales, where its remains
are generally found in caves and river-deposits. In Yorkshire and Wales
it was evidently followed by hyenas, that dragged its bones into the
caves. W. Boyd Dawkins says, that, in the spring of 1866, he accompanied
Mr. Antonio Brady to the Uphall pit, England, and describes his finds as
follows:—
“At the top, there was the surface-soil from one to three feet deep;
then an irregularly stratified layer of brick-earth and gravel six feet;
and lastly, an irregular layer of flint gravel, underneath which was
a fine reddish gray sandy loam, four feet thick. All these had been
cleared away, leaving a platform exposed, on which was a most remarkable
accumulation of bones carefully left _in situ_ by the workmen. On the
right hand was a huge tusk of mammoth, eight feet long, with the spiral
curvature undisturbed by the pressure of the superadjacent strata. Across
it lay a remarkably fine antler of red deer. At a little distance was the
frontal portion of the skull of a urns, with its horn-cores perfect to
the very tips; while around, bones of various animals were scattered,—of
the _Rhinoceros hemitœchus_, mammoth, urus, horse, either brown or grisly
bear, and wolf. As we gazed down on this tableau, we could not doubt for
a moment that the bottom of an ancient river with all its contents lay
before our eyes,—a river in which all these animals had been drowned,
and by which they had been swept into the exact position which they
then occupied. This inference was confirmed by the examination of the
thin layer of sandy gravel on which they rested, for it was full of the
shells of _Corbicula fluminalis_, with the valves together just as in
life. There were also specimens of the common anodon of our rivers, and
of the _Helix nemoralis_ of our hedge-rows. On a continuation of the
same platform, now cut away, the skull of a mammoth was discovered in
1864, perfect, with the exception of the tusks, which had been broken
away, with their incisive alveoli. That of the right side lay twenty feet
away from the skull, while the left has not yet been discovered. Owing
to the surprising skill of Mr. Davies, the skull and tusk were taken up
and re-united, and now constitute by far the finest specimen of mammoth
in the British Museum. In some cases, the mammoth remains have not been
deposited by a river. At Lexden, near Colchester, as the Rev. O. Fisher
well observes, they were overwhelmed in a bog, the small bones of the
feet being found in their natural position, a fact which shows that they
sank feet foremost through the peat into the subjacent clay.”
That the sea has greatly encroached upon the land of England, and that
the old grazing-grounds of the mammoth are now under water, is evident
from the fact that the teeth of elephants are often dredged up by
fishermen; and ivory-hunters in some localities have literally fished for
these teeth with drag-nets. A tusk dredged at Scarborough was as fresh
as when the animal was alive, and was cut up and used for the various
purposes to which ivory is put.
In its day, the mammoth also wandered through the forests of France, and
to the south as far as Rome. Portions of its skeleton have been found in
the volcanic gravel of Ponte Molle and Monte Sacro, a fact showing that
it flourished here when the site of Rome was a bed of lava that flowed
from the volcanoes of Central Italy.
Germany was a famous grazing-ground for the mammoth. At Seilberg near
Constadt on the Necker, a heap of thirteen tusks and teeth were found
“heaped close upon each other,” as if they had been packed artificially.
A like find was made in the village of Thiede, four miles south of
Brunswick: in a heap of soil ten feet square, there were found eleven
tusks, one eleven and another fourteen and three-quarters feet long;
thirty molar teeth, and numbers of large bones; “mixed with these were
the bones and teeth of rhinoceros, horse, ox, and stag; they all lay
mixed confusedly together; none of them were rolled or much broken; and
the teeth, for the most part, separate and without the jaws: there were
also some horns of stag.”
The borders of the Arctic were, however, the favorite pasturage for
these giants; and the store of ivory there may be said to be practically
inexhaustible, though the trade in the tusks has been going on with the
Jakuti and Tungusians from time immemorial.
The Siberian islands are a favorite locality for collectors, where the
tusks have been found protruding from the sand in vast numbers. After
Adams, the most valuable find was made by Dr. Middendorf, a famous
Siberian explorer, in 1843. It was discovered in latitude 66° 30´,
between the Obi and Yenesei, near the Arctic circle. Shortly after, the
body of a young one was found in a bed of sand and gravel fifteen feet or
so above the sea, near the river Taimyr; and in the former the eye was
so perfectly preserved, that the bulb, now in the St. Petersburg museum,
looks as though it had been taken from a recent animal.
One of the most interesting mammoth discoveries in late years was made
by a young Russian engineer named Benkendorf, who was employed in 1846
by the government to survey the coast off the mouth of the Lena and
Indigirka rivers. The discovery is of such great interest and value, that
I give it in his own words, the account being an abstract from a letter
written to a friend in Germany:—
“In 1846 there was unusually warm weather in the north of Siberia.
Already in May unusual rains poured over the moors and bogs, storms
shook the earth, and the streams carried not only ice to the sea, but
also large tracts of land thawed by the masses of warm water fed by
the southern rains.... We steamed on the first favorable day up the
Indigirka, but there were no thoughts of land: we saw around us only a
sea of dirty brown water, and knew the river only by the rushing and
roaring of the stream. The river rolled against us trees, moss, and large
masses of peat, so that it was only with great trouble and danger that
we could proceed. At the end of the second day, we were only about forty
wersts up the stream. Some one had to stand with the sounding-rod in
hand continually, and the boat received so many shocks that it shuddered
to the keel. A wooden vessel would have been smashed. Around us we saw
nothing but the flooded land. For eight days we met with the like
hinderances, until at last we reached the place where our Jakuti were to
have met us. Farther up was a place called Ujandina, whence the people
were to have come to us; but they were not there, prevented evidently
by the floods. As we had been here in former years, we knew the place.
But how it had changed! The Indigirka, here about three wersts wide, had
torn up the land, and worn itself a fresh channel; and, when the waters
sank, we saw, to our astonishment, that the old river-bed had become
merely that of an insignificant stream. This allowed me to cut through
the soft earth; and we went reconnoitring up the new stream, which
had worn its way westward. Afterwards we landed on the new shore, and
surveyed the undermining and destructive operation of the wild waters,
that carried away, with extraordinary rapidity, masses of soft peat and
loam. It was then that we made a wonderful discovery. The land on which
we were treading was moorland, covered thickly with young plants. Many
lovely flowers rejoiced the eye in the warm beams of the sun, that shone
for twenty-two out of the twenty-four hours. The stream rolled over, and
tore up the soft, wet ground like chaff: so that it was dangerous to go
near the brink. While we were all quiet, we suddenly heard under our
feet a sudden gurgling and stirring, which betrayed the working of the
disturbed water. Suddenly our jäger, ever on the lookout, called loudly,
and pointed to a singular and unshapely object, which rose and sank
through the disturbed waters. I had already remarked it, but not given
it any attention, considering it only drift-wood. Now we all hastened
to the spot on the shore, had the boat drawn near, and waited until the
mysterious thing should again show itself. Our patience was tried: but at
last, a black, horrible, giant-like mass was thrust out of the water;
and we beheld a colossal elephant’s head, armed with mighty tusks, with
its long trunk moving in the water in an unearthly manner, as though
seeking for something lost therein. Breathless with astonishment, I
beheld the monster hardly twelve feet from me, with his half-open eyes
yet showing the whites. It was still in good preservation.
“‘A mammoth! a mammoth!’ broke out the Tschernomori; and I shouted,
‘Here, quickly! chains and ropes!’ I will go over our preparations for
securing the giant animal, whose body the water was trying to tear from
us. As the animal again sank, we waited for an opportunity to throw the
ropes over his neck. This was only accomplished after many efforts. For
the rest we had no cause for anxiety; for, after examining the ground,
I satisfied myself that the hind-legs of the mammoth still stuck in
the earth, and that the waters would work for us to unloosen them. We
therefore fastened a rope round his neck, threw a chain round his tusks,
that were eight feet long, drove a stake into the ground about twenty
feet from the shore, and made chain and rope fast to it. The day went
by quicker than I thought for; but still, the time seemed long before
the animal was secured, as it was only after the lapse of twenty-four
hours that the water had loosened it. But the position of the animal
was interesting to me: it was standing in the earth, and not lying on
its side or back as a dead animal naturally would, indicating, by this,
the manner of its destruction. The soft peat or marsh land, on which
he stepped thousands of years ago, gave way under the weight of the
giant; and he sank as he stood on it, feet foremost, incapable of saving
himself; and a severe frost came, and turned him into ice and the moor
which had buried him. The latter, however, grew and flourished, every
summer renewing itself. Possibly the neighboring stream had heaped over
the dead body plants and sand. God only knows what causes had worked for
its preservation. Now, however, the stream had brought it once more to
the light of day; and I, an ephemera of life compared with this primeval
giant, was sent here by Heaven just at the right time to welcome him. You
can imagine how I jumped for joy.
“During our evening meal, our posts announced strangers: a troop of
Jakuti came on their fast, shaggy horses; they were our appointed people,
and were very joyful at sight of us. Our company was augmented by them
to about fifty persons. On showing them our wonderful capture, they
hastened to the stream; and it was amusing to hear how they chattered and
talked over the sight. The first day I left them in quiet possession;
but when, on the following, the ropes and chains gave a great jerk, a
sign that the mammoth was quite freed from the earth, I commanded them to
use their utmost strength, and bring the beast to land. At length, after
much hard work, in which the horses were extremely useful, the animal
was brought to land; and we were able to roll the body about twelve feet
from the shore. The decomposing effect of the warm air filled us all with
astonishment.
“Picture to yourself an elephant with a body covered with thick fur,
about thirteen feet in height, and fifteen in length, with tusks eight
feet long, thick, and curving outward at their ends, a stout trunk of six
feet in length, colossal limbs of one and a half feet in thickness, and a
tail, naked up to the end, which was covered with thick, tufty hair. The
animal was fat, and well grown. Death had overtaken him in the fulness of
his powers. His parchment-like, large, naked ears lay fearfully turned up
over the head. About the shoulders and the back he had stiff hair, about
a foot in length, like a mane. The long, outer hair was deep brown, and
coarsely rooted. The top of the head looked so wild, and so penetrated
with pitch (_und mit Pech so durchgedrungen_), that it resembled the rind
of an old oak-tree. On the sides it was cleaner (_reiner_); and under
the outer hair, there appeared everywhere a wool, very soft, warm, and
thick, and of a fallow-brown color. The giant was well protected against
the cold. The whole appearance of the animal was fearfully strange and
wild. It had not the shape of our present elephants. As compared with
our Indian elephants, its head was rough, the brain-case low and narrow,
but the trunk and mouth were much larger. The teeth were very powerful.
Our elephant is an awkward animal; but, compared with this mammoth, it
is as an Arabian steed to a coarse, ugly dray-horse. I could not divest
myself of a feeling of fear as I approached the head. The broken, widely
open eyes gave the animal an appearance of life, as though it might move
in a moment, and destroy us with a roar.... The bad smell of the body
warned us that it was time to save of it what we could; and the swelling
flood, too, bid us hasten. First of all, we cut off the tusks, and sent
them to the cutter. Then the people tried to hew the head off; but,
notwithstanding their good will, this was slow work. As the belly of the
animal was cut open, the intestines rolled out; and then the smell was
so dreadful, that I could not overcome my nauseousness, and was obliged
to turn away. But I had the stomach separated, and brought on one side.
It was well filled, and the contents instructive and well preserved. The
principal were young shoots of the fir and pine: a quantity of young
fir-cones, also in a chewed state, were mixed with the mass.... As we
were eviscerating the animal, I was as careless and forgetful as my
Jakuti, who did not notice that the ground was sinking under their feet,
until a fearful scream warned me of their misfortune, as I was still
groping in the animal’s stomach. Shocked, I sprang up, and beheld how the
river was burying in its waves our five Jakuti and our laboriously saved
beast. Fortunately the boat was near, so that our poor work-people were
all saved; but the mammoth was swallowed up by the waves, and never more
made its appearance.”
This mammoth had undoubtedly strayed into a morass, and been ingulfed;
and soon after, or before the body had an opportunity to decay, it had
frozen up, to be released again ages after by an unusual thaw.
The most recent mammoth-hunt has been made by Dr. Bunge, who instituted a
search along the Lena delta, finding, I believe, but one specimen, which
was without its head and one fore-leg. It had been exposed for ten years
to the attack of foxes, native dogs, and the natives themselves, and was
well-nigh ruined.
The mammoth was not confined to the Old World. Vast quantities of bones
have been found in Escholtz Bay in a peaty deposit that rests on a cliff
of pure blue ice, and in various parts of America. As to the causes that
led to its extinction, they are equally problematical. In Kentucky, Ohio,
and Central North America, there would seem to have been every thing to
favor its continuance,—an abundance of food, and vast areas to range
upon. The one agency that might have produced its extermination is the
one now at work upon its ally in Africa, namely, man. There is little
doubt that the early Americans chased the great animal, and, hunted from
one part of the country to another, they finally entirely disappeared.
[Illustration: PLATE IV.
ASIATIC ELEPHANT. SKELETON OF ASIATIC ELEPHANT. EXTINCT ELEPHANT, OR
MAMMOTH. ST. PETERSBURG MUSEUM.
_Page 48._]