b o o k to thereunder the Ikin, and the bones, and alfo in the hollow
V . • n .— v . “ part o f the fkull, was found a llimy fubftance, the remains
“ o f the putrid fleilr t and upon the feet, befide the ilime,
u parts o f the tendons and finews were obferved. Both the
“ horn, and the hoofs were wanting ; but the hollow in
which the horn had been fet and the edge o f the ikin
“ which encircled its bafe being apparent, and the cloven
“ reparation o f the hoofs being vifible, afforded undoubted
“ proof that the animal was a rhinoceros. Having given in
“ the Commentaries o f the Academy o f Sciences, a particu-
c< lar defcription o f this extraordinary difeovery, I will not
“ repeat what I have there advanced' concerning the caufes
“ which might have brought this rhinoceros into thefe
“ northern regions, and have difperfed the other remains o f
• “ exotick animals through Siberia. I ihall here only men-
“ tion a few circumftances, which I obtained from Argunof,
“ relative to the place where the remains o f the rhinoceros
“ were difcovered ; and Ihall add a few conjectures upon
** the poffibility o f their prefervation during fo long a
“ period.
“ The country about the Viiui is mountainous, and the
" .mountains confift o f ftrata, partly o f fand and lime ftone,
“ and.partly o f clay mixed with many pebbles. The body
“ was found in a hilI,,compofed of fan® and pebbles, about
“ fifteen fathoms h ig h ; it was buried deep in a coarfe gra-
“ velly fand, and was preferved by the fro ft, as the ground
“ in that part is never thawed at any confiderable1 depth.
" The warmeft and moft expofed: places are thawed about
“ two ells deep by the fu n ; but the lower parts, which are
“ formed o f clay and fand, are,, even at the end o f fummer,
frozen at no more than half an ell below the furface.
“ Without this circumftance4 it would have been impoflible
" that
« that the ikin and other parts o f this quadruped ihould have chap.
“ been preferved for fo long a time: for we cannot affign the
“ quick tranfportation o f this animal, from its native country
" in the fouth to thefe cold regions, to a later period, or to a
“ lefs important caufe, than to the deluge;, as the moft an-
“ tient hiftori.es o f mankind make no mention o f any later
“ revolution o f this globe, which could, with equal probabi-
“ lity, have buried thefe remains o f the rhinoceros, as well
i as the bones o f the elephants that are fcattered through-
“ out Siberia *.”
The variety o f ores collected from the numerous mines
of the Ruffian empire, highly deferves the attention o f the
mineralogift. In fpealcing o f this collection-, I ihall confine
myfelf to two fpecimens- very interefting to naturalifts,
namely, native copper, and a large mafs o f native iron. The
former Was brought from a final! ifland lying elofe to Beer-
ing’s Ifland, within fight of the coaft o f Kamtchatka, which,
takes its name o f Mednoi Oftrof, or Copper Ifland, from the
maffes o f native copper, that are not nnfrequently found
upon the beach.
The fpecimen o f native iron is part: o f a moft remarkable
mafs, eonfifting of that metal in its pure ftate, blended with
glafs-like matter t : it is in every refpetft perfe£t, malleable,
and- capable of' being forged into any form, fofceptible o f
ruft, in a. word;- partaking o f all the undoubted qualities of
iron. The mafs was difcovered in Siberia by Mr. Pallas
who, at my defire, favoured me with a defcription in French,
and, as it helps to-elucidate the account fent to the Royal 3o-
* P a th s R e * P a r t H I . p . 9 7 . . ma'gnefia.' See M e y e r ’ s “ V e r fn ch e mit
f aPPears’ br M r - M e y e r ’ s A n a ly f o “ der. von dfcm U c rn s P ro f. Pallas in Sibr
m a tter rien gefundenen. E ifen itu ffe ‘1 " £ B r f J .
n f fi 1 ■ ■ . . icrrugen ons .earth, ch aeftigun g em de r Be~lin. G efe llfch a fr
^ PPcious e a r th , and 25 o f the. e a r th o f V oI.-Ii L r ? 405.. o e lem c ta f r ,.
eiety