Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/66

56 he ſeized his lightning, deſcended on the earth, ſeated himſelf on a neighboring mountain, on a rock of which his ſeat and the print of his feet are ſtill to be ſeen, and hurled his bolts among them till the whole were ſlaughtered, except the big bull, who preſenting his forehead to the ſhafts, ſhook them off as they fell; but miſſing one at length, it wounded him in the ſide; whereon, ſpringing round, he bounded over the Ohio, over the Wabaſh, the Illinois, and finally over the great lakes, where he is living at this day.’ It is well known that on the Ohio, and in many parts of America further north, tuſks, grinders, and ſkeleton of unparalleled magnitude, are found in great numbers, ſome lying on the ſurface of the earth and ſome a little below it. A Mr. Stanley, taken priſoner by the Indians near the mouth of the Taniſſee, relates, that, after being transferred through ſeveral tribes, from one to another, he was at length carried over the mountains weſt of the Miſſouri to a river which runs weſtwardly: that theſe bones abounded there; and that the natives deſcribed to him the animal to which they belonged as ſtill exiſting in the northern parts of their country; from which deſcription he judged it to be an elephant. Bones of the ſame kind have been lately found, ſome feet below the ſurface of the earth, in ſalines opened on the North Holſton, a branch of the Taniſſee, about the latitude of 36° 30′ north. From the accounts publiſhed in Europe, I ſuppoſe it to be decided, that theſe are of the ſame kind with thoſe found in Siberia. Inſtances are mentioned of like animal remains found in the more ſouthern climates of both hemiſpheres; but they are either ſo