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826 COXE’S TRAVELS IN RUSSIA.
tude 64, below Yakutfk: the body was found in December 1771; and when Pallas
. vifited thofe parts the following year, the head and two legs were fent to him by the
governor of the province, and by him tranfmitted to the mufeum. Even the fkin and
hair are very apparent.
The account of the difcovery is related in his Travels *.
The ores collected from the numerous mines of the Ruffian empire, highly deferve
the attention of the mineralogift. In fpeaking of this colleétion, I fhall confine myfelf
to two {pecimens interefting to naturalifts; native copper, and a large mafs of native
iron. The former was brought from a fmall ifland, within fight of Kamtchatka,
which takes the name of Mednoi Oftrof, or Copper Ifland, from the pieces of nativ®
copper + not unfrequently found upon the beach. :
The fpecimen of native iron is part of a moft remarkable’mafs of that metal in its
pure ftate, blended with glafs-like matter t: it is in every refpect perfect, malleable,
and capable of being forged into any form; fufceptible of ruft; in a word, poffefling
all the qualities of iron. It was difcovered in Siberia by Pallas, who favoured me with
a defcription, which will ferve to elucidate his account fent to the Royal Society. Let
me only remark, that I repeatedly examined the fpecimen, and found its real ftate to be
exactly defcribed. I exprefsly mention thefe circumftances, as fome perfons have
doubted the exiftence of this block of native iron; and as I am always anxious, when-
ever I have it in my power, to afcertain the truth of every relation which I give to the
public.
* « This winter the hunters of Yakutfk having found, near the rivulet Vilui, the body of an unknown
animal, the head and two hinder feet were fent to Irkutfk by Ivan Argunof, vayvode of Vilitfk. In the:
account of this difcovery, dated the 17th of January, it appears, that in December, about twenty-fix.
miles above Vilitfk, the body of an animal was obferved half buried in the fand, about a fathom from the
water, and four fathom from a fteep cliff. Being meafured, it was found to be feven feet feven inches in
length, and in height about feven feet fix inches. ‘The hide was entire, the body appeared of its natural:
bulk ;. but in fuch a ftate, that only the head and feet could be carried away ; one of the feet was fent to;
Yakutfk, and the remainder to Irkutfk. On infpeGtion, they feemed to have belonged ta a full-grown
rhinoceros ; and as the head was entirely covered with the fkin, there could be no doubt of the fa&. Qn.
one fide the fmall hairs were ftill perfe€&t. ‘The exterior organization was well preferved, and the eye-lids
were not entirely corrupted. Here and there, under the fkin, and the bones, and alfoin the hollow part
of the fkull, was found a flimy fubftance, the remains of the putrid flefh ; and upon the feet, befide the
flime, parts of the tendons and finews were obferved. Both the horn and hoofs were wanting ; but the
hollow in which the horn had been fet, and the edge of the fkin which encircled its bafe, being apparent
and the cloven feparation of the hoofs being vifible, afforded undoubted proof that the animal was a rhi«
noceros. I fhall here mention a few circumitances, which I obtained from Argunof, relative to the place
where the remains of the rhinoceros were difcovered, and add a few conjeétures on the poffibility of their
prefervation during fo long a period. The country about the Vilui is mountainous ; and the mountains
confift of trata, partly ot fand and limeftone, partly of clay mixed with many pebbles. The body was
found ina hill, compofed of fand and pebbles, about fifteen fathoms high; it was buried: deep in a coarfé
gravelly fand; and was preferved by the froft, as the ground in that part is never thawed at any confi-
derable depth. Without this circumftance the fkin and other parts of this quadruped would not have been.
fo long preferved. For we cannot affign the quick tranfportation of 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 ancient hiftories of mankind make no mention of any later revolution of this globe, which could,
with equal probability, have buried thefe remains of the rhinoceros, as well as the bones of elephants fcat-
tered throughout Siberia.” Pallas Reife, part iii, p. 97.
+ See Rufian Difcoveries.
} It appears, by Meyer’s analyfis of this mineral, that the glafs-like matter confifts of eight parts. of
ferrugineous earth, twenty-feven of filicious earth, and twenty-five of the earth*of magnefia. See Meyer’s
** Verfuche mit der von dem Herns Prof. Pallas in Siberien gefundenen Eifenftuffe ;” in Befchaeftigungem,
der Berlin, Gefellfchaft. Vol, iii. p. 405.
&. This: .
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