Anon. "Report of the Existence of Unknown Animal of Vast Size Among the Rocky Mountains of North America," The Scots Magazine (1 June 1818)

Mr. Editor, the following short notice relative to what seems to me to be a subject of no slight interest may probably be deemed worthy of insertion either among your customary memoranda of natural history, or in some vacant corner of your instructive miscellany. You know that specimens of what has been denominated the wool-bearing animal have lately been transmitted from the rocky mountains of North America, to the professor of natural history in this city. This animal had not been described in any of the great works on natural history; and though it is a remarkable quadruped, not only from its haunts, which are among the high precipices of stupendous mountains, but from the great beauty and value of its fleece, it has till within few years been altogether unknown to any of the numerous scientific individuals who have been so actively engaged in investigating the wonders of every quarter of the globe. The fact is, however, that this animal, which we are informed is intermediate between the goat and the antelope, has been long familiar the traders who traverse the immense wildernesses which encompass its haunts, and I have repeatedly heard descriptions of it from individuals of that profession, who were not aware that in this part of the world it was so great a curiosity. What I wish particularly to state at present, however, is, that, in the course of these conversations, I have received from the same individuals the most positive assurances of the existence of another animal among the same mountains, of immense size, and equally unknown certainly to the naturalists of Europe. The fact of its existence rests upon the testimony of two different parties who had been sent some errand into the interior vallies of those mountains. The first party came suddenly upon the animal in a deep and formerly unvisited recess, and were so alarmed at its prodigious size, (exceeding that of the largest elephant,) and at its unknown aspect, that they immediately retreated in great consternation to the encampment from which they had been dispatched. Another party was sent to the same spot to ascertain the fact; and though the animal was not observed, its footsteps could be distinctly traced, and each compartment of its hoof is stated to have admitted both the feet of the travellers. It ought to observed, that these parties were perfectly familiar with the appearance of the buffaloe (sic) which indeed they were in the daily habit of killing; and that the animal which they saw cannot therefore be regarded as an individual of that tribe. It was seen, too, as I have already stated, in a very remote and central valley, and the intervals between its paces are described having been of astonishing magnitude. Now we know well that animals of immense size have inhabited the northern parts of our earth in former times, and the huge remains which are every day dug up, are more likely to have belonged to individuals of such an animal as that now alluded to, than to any extinct species of a former world. Nor is there any part of the globe to which we should more naturally turn proofs of the continued existence of such animals, (if they do still exist,) than the immense mountains where this individual was seen. These mountains have been untrodden in many of their solitudes by any even of the savage nations that inhabit these regions, for I am informed, that these tribes have one path by which they uniformly descend from the great interior wildernesses, to the encampments of our traders, for the purpose of disposing of the produce of their chase; and the majestic grandeur and extreme solitude of the mountains themselves, seem to harmonise with the attributes of so wonderful an animal. I am well aware, at the same time, how strongly fear and amazement might operate in exciting the imagination of men who found themselves amidst the awful stillness of a region so remarkable in every respect, and how natural it was for them in these circumstances to give preternatural magnitude to some familiar but bulky animal. Yet when I reflect on the character and experience of the individuals by whom this relation was given, and on all the probabilities by which their assertion is supported, I confess, that I feel a strong inclination to give full credit to every particular of their testimony. You will also be aware, that the existence of such an animal, if well ascertained, would be one of the most interesting facts which it is possible in our present state of knowledge to acquire; and if the Ornithorinchus, or any small prowler of the lakes of New Holland, is beheld with wonder and preserved with care, with what overpowering amazement should we contemplate the image of a quadruped, surpassing, according to our present accounts, the largest and most formidable that either browse in silence beneath our primeval forests or roam unmolested in the deep vallies of the hottest and least frequented regions of the globe ; and the existence of which would at the same go so far in illustrating some the darkest passages in the past history of this earth. My object, however, in transmitting to you this notice is simply to elicit such further information, either in the way of confirmation or denial as may set this interesting query on more certain grounds; and as many of the individuals employed either in the service of the Hudson’s Bay or of the North West Company, are daily arriving in this country, I hope that this hint may draw from such of them are actually of the parties before a satisfactory account of their expedition and discovery. I am yours truly, P.