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118 THEOUGH THE MACKENZIE B A S I N * *
the manners and customs of the aborigines, since we had
no time to observe them closely. They have their legends
and traditions and remnants of ceremonies,. much of which
is upon record, and they cherish, especially, some very
curious beliefs. One, in particular, we were told, obtained
amongst them, namely, that the mastodon still exM » > iji the
fastnesses of the Upper Mackenzie. They describe i t j « f'sa!
monster many times larger than the buffalo, and they dttSaiSfr
going into the parts i t is supposed to haunt. This singular
opinion may be the survival of a very old tradition regarding
that animal, but is more likely due to the presence of
its remains in the shape of tusks and bones found here and
there throughout the Mackenzie River district and the
Yukon.*
On the 9th the steamer Grahams arrived from Smith's
Landing, bringing with her about 120 baffled Klondikers,
returning to the United States, there being still some sixty
more, they said, down the Mackenzie River, who intended >
to make their way out, i f possible, before winter. They
had a solitary woman with them who had discarded a duffer
husband, and who looked very self- reliant, indeed, being
girt about with bowie- knife and revolver, but otherwise not
alarming.
* A similar belief, it is said, exists amongst the Indians of tbe
Yukon. The remains of the primeval elephant are exceedingly
abundant in the tundras of Siberia, and a considerable trade! In
mammoth ivory has been carried on between that region and England
for many years. It is supposed that the Asian elephant
advanced far to the North during the interglacial period and
perished in the recurrent glacial epoch. Its American congener,
the mastodon, found its way from Asia to this continent during; tits;
Drift period, when, it is believed, land communication existed" in
what Is now Bering's Strait, and perished in a like manner. It,
was not a sudden but a gradual extinction in their native habitats,
due to natural causes, such as encroaching ice and other material
changes in the animals' environment. This, I believe, is the accepted
scientific opinion of to- day. But the fact that these animajilSw
at times exposed entire by the falling away of ice- cliffs or ledges,
their flesh being quite fresh and flt food for dogs, and eveaTsStft,
opens up a very interesting field of inquiry and conjecture. ' iPffifc-bowels
of a mammoth recently revealed in North- Eastern Sfbjisria
Object Description
Description
| Title | Page 134 |
| OCR | 118 THEOUGH THE MACKENZIE B A S I N * * the manners and customs of the aborigines, since we had no time to observe them closely. They have their legends and traditions and remnants of ceremonies,. much of which is upon record, and they cherish, especially, some very curious beliefs. One, in particular, we were told, obtained amongst them, namely, that the mastodon still exM » > iji the fastnesses of the Upper Mackenzie. They describe i t j « f'sa! monster many times larger than the buffalo, and they dttSaiSfr going into the parts i t is supposed to haunt. This singular opinion may be the survival of a very old tradition regarding that animal, but is more likely due to the presence of its remains in the shape of tusks and bones found here and there throughout the Mackenzie River district and the Yukon.* On the 9th the steamer Grahams arrived from Smith's Landing, bringing with her about 120 baffled Klondikers, returning to the United States, there being still some sixty more, they said, down the Mackenzie River, who intended > to make their way out, i f possible, before winter. They had a solitary woman with them who had discarded a duffer husband, and who looked very self- reliant, indeed, being girt about with bowie- knife and revolver, but otherwise not alarming. * A similar belief, it is said, exists amongst the Indians of tbe Yukon. The remains of the primeval elephant are exceedingly abundant in the tundras of Siberia, and a considerable trade! In mammoth ivory has been carried on between that region and England for many years. It is supposed that the Asian elephant advanced far to the North during the interglacial period and perished in the recurrent glacial epoch. Its American congener, the mastodon, found its way from Asia to this continent during; tits; Drift period, when, it is believed, land communication existed" in what Is now Bering's Strait, and perished in a like manner. It, was not a sudden but a gradual extinction in their native habitats, due to natural causes, such as encroaching ice and other material changes in the animals' environment. This, I believe, is the accepted scientific opinion of to- day. But the fact that these animajilSw at times exposed entire by the falling away of ice- cliffs or ledges, their flesh being quite fresh and flt food for dogs, and eveaTsStft, opens up a very interesting field of inquiry and conjecture. ' iPffifc-bowels of a mammoth recently revealed in North- Eastern Sfbjisria |
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