Proceeding thence
northwardly to thirty-six and a half degrees, we enter those assigned
to the mammoth. The farther we advance north, the more their vestiges
multiply, as far as the earth has been explored in that direction; and
it is as probable as otherwise, that this progression continues to the
pole itself, if land extends so far. The centre of the frozen zone,
then, may be the acme of their vigor, as that of the torrid is of the
elephant. Thus nature seems to have drawn a belt of separation between
these two tremendous animals, whose breadth indeed is not precisely
known, though at present we may suppose it to be about six and a half
degrees of latitude; to have assigned to the elephant the regions
south of these confines, and those north to the mammoth, founding the
constitution of the one in her extreme of heat, and that of the other
in the extreme of cold. When the Creator has therefore separated their
nature as far as the extent of the scale of animal life allowed to this
planet would permit, it seems perverse to declare it the same, from a
partial resemblance of their tusks and bones. But to whatever animal we
ascribe these remains, it is certain such a one has existed in America,
and that it has been the largest of all terrestrial beings.
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