There is something positively appal
ling in the idea of that strange beast,
preserved so fresh 80,000 years (the most
modest computation), that when once
more disentombed it was still fit for lu
pine food, and for the matter of that
was very properly cooked and eaten in
part by the unsophisticated Xuugnsians
themselves in person. Though most of
the flesh had disappeared the skeleton
still remained almost intao f , held to
gether ia places by the naduciyod liga
ments; the nege eyes yet stared wildly
from their capacious sockets, the brain
was uninjured iuside the heavy tkuli,
one ear hung unhurt from the sid .- ot the
head, rolaiiiing its long tuft of bristly
hair, and us much of the skin escaped
destruction as tr; men could cirry away
together. The ske’eton was taken to St.
Petersburg, and there sat up in the mus
turn of the Imperial Academy. It has
frequently sat or stood for its portrait
since to various artists, and its counter
teil presentment in black and whi e
forms, in fact, the common mammoth o f
the ordinary wood ca:, almost all of
which are taken from this earliest, the
best and most perfect specimen. The
only doubtful point about the beast is
the tusks. They were purchased as was
supposed, from the Russian mtichant
who had bought them from their original
discoverer; but whether he sold back the
right pair or another set like them that
fitted equally well, has never been quite
satisfactorily determined.
