Voyage through the Kara Sea. 145 



form they all resembled the upper one with its steep 

 ledges, and had evidently been formed in the same 

 way, by the action of the sea, and more especially of the 

 ice. Like the upper one, they also were most marked 

 on the west and north sides of the island, which are 

 those facing most to the open sea. 



To the student of the history of the earth these 

 marks of the former level of the sea are of great interest, 

 showing as they do that the land has risen or the sea 

 sunk since the time they were formed. Like Scandi- 

 navia, the whole of the north coast of Siberia has 

 undergone these changes of level since the Great Ice 

 Age. 



It was strange that we saw none of the islands 

 which, according to Nordenskiold's map, stretch in a 

 line to the north-east from Kamenni Island. On the 

 other hand, I took the bearings of one or two other 

 islands lying almost due east, and next morning we 

 passed a small island farther north. 



We saw few birds in this neighbourhood only a 

 few flocks of geese, some Arctic gulls (lestris parasitica 

 and /. buffonii), and a few sea-gulls and tern. 



On Sunday, August 2oth, we had, for us, uncom- 

 monly fine weather blue sea, brilliant sunshine, and 

 light wind, still from the north-east. In the afternoon 

 we ran in to the Kjellman Islands. These we could 

 recognise from their position on Nordenskiold's map, 

 but south of them we found many unknown ones. They 



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