• they ufe for fly-flaps; the Chinefe dye tufts o f it with a
-i beautiful fcarlet, with which they decorate their caps ; and
the Turks employ it as ornaments * to their ftandards. I
obferved alfo the bouquetin, the white-bear, the ermine, the
muik-rat, the flying fquirrel; among the amphibious animals
the fea-horfe, whofe tufh is ufed inftead o f ivo ry ; and
the fea-otter, greatly prized for its rich and valuable fur.
T h e latter is caught on the coaft of Kamtchatka, and in the
Aleutian and Fox Iflands and its ikin is difpofed o f to the
Chinefe at a high price +.
The collection o f birds, infedts, fifh, ibells, dried plants,
all ranged in the exadteft order and after the fyftem o f Lin-
ijseus, next attracts the obfervation o f the naturalift.
In the cabinet of natural hiftory, I could not avoid being
furprized with the number and. variety o f foil'd bones, teeth,
and horns, o f the elephant, rhinoceros, and buffalo, which
have been found in different parts o f this empire, but more
particularly in the fouthern regions o f Siberia. From the
infpeCtion o f their aftoniihing variety, I was led to inquire
by what means they could have been found in a country
where the animals o f which they formerly made a part were
never known to exift.
It was the opinion o f Peter, who, though he deferves to
be efteemed a great monarch, was certainly no great naturalift;
that the teeth found near Voronetz were the remains of
elephants- belonging to the army o f Alexander the Great,
who, according to fome hiftorians, croffed the Don, and advanced
as far as Koftinka *.
The celebrated Bayer, whofe authority carries greater
weight in the literary world, conjectures, that the bones and
* T h e Europeans erroneoufly fuppofe * See Ruffian D ifco v e r ie s , p . 1 1 4 , 160,
th efe o rnaments to be made from horfe-ta ils . 172 , and o th e r parts.
t See Ruffian D ifcoverie s , p . ,2 . j L e B r u y n V T ra v e ls , vol. I . p . 63.
teeth
teeth found in Siberia belonged to elephants common in that c h a p .
country, during the wars which the Mongol monarchs car- > . ~ ■
ried on with the Perfians and Indians ; and this plaufible
fuppofition feems in fome meafure to be corroborated by the
difcovery óf the entire fkeleton o f an elephant in one o f
the Siberian tombs. But this opinion, as Mr. Pallas very
Juftly obferves, is fufiiciendy refuted by the confideration,
that the elephants employed in the armies o f all India could
never have afforded the vaft quantities o f teeth which have
been already difcovered, not to mention thofe which it is
juftly to be prefumed may ftill be buried *.
The fame ingenious naturalift has given an ample defcrip-
tion o f thefe foflil bones, and has endeavoured to account for
their origin +. Upon examining thofe in the mufeum, he
was led to.conclude ; 'that as thefe bones are equally difperfed
in all the northern regions of Europe, thè climate probably
was in- the earlier ages lefs fevere than at prefent, and then
poflibly fufflciently warm to be the native countries o f the
elephant, rhinoceros, and other quadrupeds, now found only
in the fouthern climates. But when he vifited, during his
travels, the fpots where the foflil bodies were dug up, and
could form a judgement from his own obfervations, and not
from the accounts o f others ; he, with a candour which reflects
the higheft honour upon his good fenfe, renounced his former
hypothefis ; and, in conformity with the opinions o f
, i j 0v' ? om’ ;p. 440. “ b ilia 110(tra, cujtis -fubterraneum E b u r
bus H r « °m' 9 SlbirÌ!e “ quamquam hodiernum nonnifi cafu r ip a ’
1 , y s ’ ‘ h a t Jn no country, more “ riimqn'e ad majora flumina ruinis de te ei
ff l bopes have been difcovered than an S i- “ Tole at, e a tam en fic q u o q u e cop ia ie s i t u f
■du^,plteLtt,a"ts’ teetl\ harebT “ utintcr M
de rable artic le f 1 38 ma a cou “ Ob tineat.locum, illu d p r x fe r t im , quod in
'« uncu am re * , rade' .N ,,Uil tamen “ t c r i s hyp erb oreis alterno g d u rig em ib u "
<■ graviliimarum e t V n t " '“ ’ ? 0 h ° C “ rePe' tum> P*3116 mcorru ptum e t torna tili
.. um c t ant)quiffimarum .tetlun s “ operi ad hu c aptura e f t . "
mtxtatioimm monumenta prodidit, a c Si-
V°L. II. S •u many