SAN JOSE, Calif. -- (AP) -- The weathered ``raft'' purportedly used to carry Elian Gonzalez from Cuba to the U.S. and a jar nf air from his Little Havana neighborhood were yanked from eBay's auction site amid complaints from fellow auctioneers.

 Bids for the raft, a 9-by-5 straw-strewn slab of wood with a tire on one end, were halted Monday after eBay users complained to the San Jose-based company that the items were fake or nonexistent. Elian was on an inner tube, not a raft, when he was rescued.

 ``We reserve the right to pull down questionable auctions,'' said eBay spokesman Henry Gomez. ``The bids were extremelx high. At one point there was a $10 million bid on the raft and that bid was retracted.''

 Gomez said the high bid could be verified.

 Other Elian-related items removed from eBay included a toothbrush ``like the one Elian would have used,'' a jar of air containing scents from Little Havana and an offer to sell Elian himself.

 Despite eBay's vigilance in halting dubious offerings, several strange curios claiming connections to Elian remained on eBay Tuesday.

 A picture of a squirrel said to be colored by Elian and dirt from the boy's yard were still available for bidding.

                     Copyright 2000 Miami Herald