[211] As specimens of the sub-fossil mollusc fauna of the tundra some of the common species are delineated on the opposite page. These are:—/* 1. Mya arenaria, Lin. 2/3 of natural size. 2. Mya truncata, Lin. var. Uddevallensis, Forbes. 2/3 3. Saxicava pholadis, Lin. 2/3. 4. Tellina lata, Gmel. 2/3 5. Cardium ciliatum, Fabr. 2/3. 6. Leda pernula, Müll. var. buccata, Steenstr. Natural size. 7. Nucula expansa, Reeve. Nat. size. 8. Fusus Kroyeri, Möll. 2/3. 9. Fusus fornicatus, Reeve. 1/2. 10. Fusus tornatus, Gould. 2/3. 11. Margarita elegantissima, Bean. Natural size. 12. Pleurotoma plicifera, Wood. Natural size. 13. Pleurotoma pyramidalis, Ström. 1-1/2. 14. Trichotropis borealis, Brod. 1-1/2. 15. Natica helicoides, Johnst. Nat. size.
[212] Bihang till Vet. Akad. Handl. Bd. iv. No. 11, p. 42.
[213] Provisions and wares intended for trade with the natives are transported on the Yenisej, as on many other Siberian rivers, down the stream in colossal lighters, built of planks like logs. It does not pay to take them up the river again, on which account, after their lading has been taken out of them, they are either left on the bank to rot or broken up for the timber.
CHAPTER IX.
The New Siberian Islands—The Mammoth—Discovery of Mammoth and Rhinoceros mummies—Fossil Rhinoceros horns—Stolbovoj Island—Liachoff's Island—First discovery of this island—Passage through the sound between this island and the mainland—Animal life there—Formation of ice in water above the freezing point—The Bear Islands—The quantity and dimensions of the ice begin to increase—Different kinds of sea-ice—Renewed attempt to leave the open channel along the coast—Lighthouse Island—Voyage along the coast to Cape Schelagskoj—Advance delayed by ice, shoals, and fog—First meeting with the Chukches—Landing and visits to Chukch villages—Discovery of abandoned encampments—Trade with the natives rendered difficult by the want of means of exchange—Stay at Irkaipij—Onkilon graves—Information regarding the Onkilon race—Renewed contact with the Chukches—Kolyutschin Bay—American statements regarding the state of the ice north of Behring's Straits—The Vega beset.
After the parting the Lena shaped her course towards the land; the Vega continued her voyage in a north-easterly direction towards the new Siberian Islands.
These have, from the time of their discovery, been renowned among the Russian ivory collectors for their extraordinary richness in tusks and portions of skeletons of the extinct northern species of elephant known by the name of mammoth.
We know by the careful researches of the academicians PALLAS, VON BAER, BRANDT, VON MIDDENDORFF, FR. SCHMIDT, &c., that the mammoth was a peculiar northern species of elephant with a covering of hair, which, at least during certain seasons of the year, lived under natural conditions closely resembling those which now prevail in middle and even in northern Siberia. The widely extended grassy plains and forests of North Asia were the proper homeland of this animal, and there it must at one time have wandered about in large herds.