FOKMEK CLIMATE OF ALASKA 81 



the theory of the existence of enormous ice -sheets in dis- 

 tricts adjoining Alaska during Pleistocene times. All the 

 writers agree that the numerous mammals .whose remains were 

 discovered in Alaska lived there in the Ice Age during climatic 

 conditions wliich were vastly more favourable than those now 

 prevailing. Evidences of a milder climate are furnished by 

 the abundance of mammoth remains in Alaska. Horses, rein- 

 deer and herds of bisons likewise roamed all over the country. 

 Hence rich meadows and forests must have been plentiful 

 to support them all with food. Nothing whatsoever has been 

 brought to light which would sustain the theory expressed 

 by some writers that this fauna inhabited Alaska during a 

 mild post-Glacial or inter-Glacial stage. No trace of the exist- 

 ence in Alaska of a cold period preceding the supposed inter- 

 Glacial or post-Glacial stage has been found. We must con- 

 clude, therefore, that Alaska and the neighbouring countries 

 during the whole of the Pleistocene Period had a temperate 

 climate. 



These heterodox views on the climate during the so- 

 called Ice Age are not new. They were enunciated by 

 Sir Henry Howorth and supported by able arguments 

 more than twenty years ago. Very little was then known 

 of Alaska, but the remains of innumerable large mammals 

 had been unearthed in northern Siberia and even on the New 

 Siberian Islands situated in the Arctic Ocean. These dis- 

 closures naturally caused a good deal of speculation. They 

 led to 'the conclusion that the cold of the Ice Age or Glacial 

 Epoch was succeeded by a warm or temperate climate during 

 which these animals were tempted to wander into the Arctic 

 Regions. After carefully examining the problem, however, 

 Sir Henry Howorth * expressed the conviction that this mild 

 or temperate epoch did not follow the Ice Age, but pre- 

 vailed during the whole of it. The creatures alluded to must, 

 therefore, have lived in those northern regions during the 

 Pleistocene Period, which was temperate in character. Since 

 the close of that period Siberia has gradually become more 

 and more inhospitable. 



A few years later the extremely valuable scientific results of 



* Howorth, H. H., " Mammoth and the Flood," p. 265. 



L.A. G 



