who was in the habit of collecting tusks for
sale from among the blocks of ice and rubbish
which had fallen from the cliffs, on the banks
of Lake Oncoul, near the mouth of the Lena
river, saw projecting from the cliff a mass of
unusual form; but, from its shapeless
appearance, he could make nothing of it. The
year after, proceeding to his usual haunt, he
noticed that this lump was somewhat
disengaged, and had two projecting parts; and,
towards the end of the summer of 1801, when
he again looked at it, he found it to consist of
the whole side of a gigantic animal, having
large tusks, one of which projected from the
ice. So slowly do changes take place in these
districts, that the next summer, being rather
cold, no alteration was to be noted; but in
1803 part of the ice between the earth and
the monstrous animal was somewhat more
melted than before, till the whole at length
fell by its own weight on a bank of sand.
Next year our fisherman came in the month
of March, and cut off the tusks, which he soon
sold for about the value of fifty roubles, (about
seven pounds, ten shillings)." Two years after
this, in 1806, being the seventh year from the
discovery of the carcase, these distant and
desert regions were traversed by Mr. Adams,
an employé of the Court of Russia; and his
account of the rest of the history of this
mammoth, the ancient elephant of northern
Europe, is as follows:—" At this time I
found the mammoth still in the same
place, but altogether mutilated. The
prejudices being dissipated, in consequence of
the Tungusian (who had fallen sick with
alarm on first hearing of the discovery,
because it was considered a bad omen,) having
recovered his health, there was no obstacle to
prevent approach to the carcase. The
proprietor was contented with his profit for the
tusks ; and the Jakutski of the neighbourhood
had cut off the flesh, with which they
fed their dogs. During the scarcity, wild
beasts, such as white bears, wolves, wolverines,
and foxes, also fed upon it ; and the traces of
their footsteps were seen around. The
skeleton, almost entirely cleared of its flesh,
remained whole, with the exception of one
fore-leg. The head was covered with a dry
skin ; one of the ears, well preserved, was
furnished with a tuft of hairs. All these
parts have necessarily been injured in
transporting them a distance of seven thousand
three hundred and thirty miles (to St.
Petersburg) ; but the eyes have been
preserved, and the pupil of one can still be
distinguished."

I will not quote the description of that
mammoth, because his whole story has been told
so very often; but I fix him here as the
best known illustration of the preserving
powers of ice. Decomposition requires three
conditions,—warmth, air, and moisture. A
body surrounded completely by dry ice has
none of the three conditions properly fulfilled.
That is the philosophy of the matter; but it
is too hot to philosophise at present, or to
discuss any subject—even that of Ice. One
can only glance at it while the thermometer
is—I dare not go and ascertain where. At
last, having attained a summer luxury (rather
an expensive one, by-the-bye, in the long
run), to wit, idleness—the dolce far niente—surely it would be insanity to add another
syllable. Any one, who is capable of so
much exertion, is at liberty to think a little
of these things, and of the mode of stacking
Ice especially.

THE STORY OF REINEKE THE FOX.

OF those who visit the Great Exhibition,
few fail, after they come away, to talk of
certain cases from Germany which contain
stuffed animals, and especially of some
exquisite groups illustrating the famous German
fable, " Reineke Fuchs." Many desire to
know the story which has furnished such
amusing illustrations. We propose, therefore,
to tell the tale as Goethe tells it, with
this little difference, that we convert a long
German poem into a short English tale, twelve
books of hexameters into twelve chapters of
prose, omitting episodes.

CHAPTER THE FIRST.

Whitsuntide was come, the pleasant festival;
green leaves and blossoms covered rock,
forest, and meadow; the birds practised their
music, and the sun made holiday upon the
earth.

Nobel, the King, summoned his court, and
from all sides came his vassals leaping;
Luitke the Crane and Markart the Jay, and
all that was illustrious. For the King, with
his barons, meant to hold a solemn court,
and thereto all were to be summoned, great
and small. Yet there was one who came not;
Reineke Fox, the rascal. The Fox, having
an evil conscience, shunned the assembled
gentlemen. All had to complain, all had been
injured by him. He had spared none but
his brother's son, Grimbart the Badger.

Isegrim the Wolf began the accusation.
Surrounded by his relatives and friends, he
stepped before the King, and having made
a speech, concluded thus: My liege, if all
the linen made in Ghent were parchment,
I could not find room to write thereon a
list of all the tricks that he has played
me. Then there stood forth a little Dog,
named Wackerlos, who told in French,
before the King, how poor he was, and when
he had left but a bit of sausage in the world,
Reineke robbed him of his little all. But
Hintze the Cat sprang forward. It is well,
he said, but Wackerlos has nothing to
complain of. His sausage was lost three years
since, and it belonged to me. I stole it of a
miller. And the Panther said, We waste
,ime in complaining ; we have vengeance in
the royal power. Let me tell you how the