The Mammoth is a fossil Elephant; a most remarkable one of which was found in the ice, at the mouth of the river Lena, in Siberia.

The following account is extracted from an abridgment of for paper by Dr. Tilesius, from the Journal of Science.

"In the year 1805, when the Russian expedition under Kru-senstern returned for the third time to Kamschatka, Patagof, master of a Russian ship, bringing victualling stores from Okotsk, related that he had lately seen a mammoth elephant, duo- up on the shores of the Frozen Ocean, clothed with a hairy skin; and showed, in confirmation of the fact, some hair three or four inches long, of a reddish black colour, a little thicker than horse hair, which he had taken from the skin of the animal: this he gave to me, says Dr. Tilesius. and I sent it to professor Blumembach. No further knowledge has been obtained on this subject, and unfortunately Patagof was not employed by any of our Societies to return to Siberia. Thus was this curious fact consigned to oblivion; nor should we now possess any information respecting the carcase of the mammoth, if the rumour of its discovery had not reached Mr. Adams, a man of great ardour in pursuit of science, who undertook the labour of a journey to these frozen regions, and of preparing these gigantic remains, and transporting them to a great distance.

"The preservation of the flesh of the mammoth through a long series of ages, is not to be wondered at, when we recollect the constant cold and frost of the climate in which it was found. It is a common practice to preserve meat and berries throughout the winter, by freezing them, and to send fish, and all other provisions, annually at that period, from the most remote of the northern provinces, to St. Petersburg, and other parts of the empire.

"I was told, at Jakutsk, says Mr. Adams, by the merchant Papoff, chief of the body of merchants in that town, that there had been discovered on the shores of the Frozen Ocean, near the mouth of the river Lena, an animal of extraordinary magnitude. The flesh, the skin, and the hair, were in a state of preservation, and it was supposed that the fossil production known under the name of mammoth's horns, must have be longed to an animal of this species. The news of this interesting discovery determined me to hasten the journey which I had in contemplation, for the purpose of visiting the shores of the Lena, as far as the Frozen Ocean; wishing to pres?rve these precious remains, which might otherwise be lost.

"The third day of our journey we pitched our tents, at some hundred paces distant from the mammoth, on a hill, called Kembisaga-Shaeta. Schumachof, a Tungusian chief, related to me, nearly in these terms, the history of the discovery of the mamrroth.

"The Tungusians, who are a wandering people, remain but a little time in the same place Those who live in the forests, often take ten years or more, to travel over the vast regions between the mountains: during this time, they do not once return to their habitations. Each family lives isolated, and knows no other society. If, during the course of several years, two friends meet by chance, they then communicate to each other their adventures, their different successes in hunting, and the number of skins they have obtained. Alter having passed some days together, and consumed the few provisions they had, they separate cheerfully, carrying each other's compliments to their acquaintance, and trusting to Providence for another meeting. The Tungusians inhabiting the coast differ from the former, in having more regular and fixed habitations, and in collecting together at certain seasons for fishing and hunting. During winter, they inhabit cottages, built side by side, so that they form villages. It is to one of these annual trips that we owe the discovery of the mammoth.

"Towards the end of the month of August, when the fishing season in the Lena is over, Schumach of generally goes with his brothers to the peninsula of Tamut, where they employ themselves in hunting, and where the fresh fish of the sea offer them a wholesome and agreeable food. In 1799, he had constructed for his wife some cabins on the banks of the lake Oncoul, and had embarked, to seek along the coasts for mammoth horns. One day, he perceived along the blocks of ice a shapeless mass, not at all resembling the large pieces of floating wood which are commonly found there. To observe it nearer, he landed, climbed up a rock, and examined this new object on all sides, but without being able to discover what it was.

"The following year, 1800, he found the carcase of a Walrus, (Trichecus Rosmarus.) He perceived, at the same time, that the mass he had before seen was more disengaged from the blocks of ice, and had two projecting parts, but was still unable to make out its nature. Towards the end of the following summer, 1801, the entire side of the animal, and one of his tusks, were quite free from the ice. On his return to the borders of the lake Oncoul, he communicated this extraordinary discovery to his wife and some of his friends; but the way in which they considered the matter filled him with grief. The old men related, on this occasion, their having heard their fathers say, that a similar monster had been formerly seen in the same peninsula, and that all the family of the discoverer had died soon afterwards. The mammoth was therefore considered as an augury of future calamity, and the Tun-gusian chief was so alarmed, that he fell seriously ill; but becoming convalescent, his first idea was the profit which he might obtain by selling the tusks of the animal, which were of extraordinary size and beauty. He ordered that the place where the mammoth was found should be carefully concealed, and that strangers should, under different pretexts, be diverted from it, at the same time charging trust-worthy people to watch that the treasure was not carried off.

"But the summer of 1802, which was less warm and more windy than common, caused the mammoth to remain buried in the ice, which had scarcely melted at all. At length, towards the end of the fifth year, 1803, the ardent wishes of Schumach of were happily accomplished ; for the part of the ice between the earth and the mammoth having melted more rapidly than the rest, the plane of its support became inclined, and this enormous mass fell, by its own weight, on a bank of sand. Of this, two Tungusians, who accompanied me, were witnesses.