(7/7. See the admirable Appendix by
Dr. Buckland to Beechey's "Voyage"; also the writings of Chamisso
in Kotzebue's "Voyage.") And as so many species, both living and
extinct, of these same genera inhabit and have inhabited the Old
World, it seems most probable that the North American elephants,
mastodons, horse, and hollow-horned ruminants migrated, on land
since submerged near Behring's Straits, from Siberia into North
America, and thence, on land since submerged in the West Indies,
into South America, where for a time they mingled with the forms
characteristic of that southern continent, and have since become
extinct.
While travelling through the country, I received several vivid
descriptions of the effects of a late great drought; and the
account of this may throw some light on the cases where vast
numbers of animals of all kinds have been embedded together. The
period included between the years 1827 and 1830 is called the "gran
seco," or the great drought. During this time so little rain fell,
that the vegetation, even to the thistles, failed; the brooks were
dried up, and the whole country assumed the appearance of a dusty
high-road. This was especially the case in the northern part of the
province of Buenos Ayres and the southern part of St.
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