130 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



country and appear to be intended by nature 

 to form not only the arteries for its inner 

 life, but also channels of communication 

 with the rest of the world, all flow toward 

 the north, and fall into a sea which, down to 

 recent times, has been considered complete- 

 ly inaccessible." The basins of the three 

 Great rivers together cover an area of near- 

 ly 2,500,000 geographical square miles, of 

 which 1,440,000 geographical square miles 

 lie south of 60 north. A part of the jour- 

 ney lay through the region of the remains of 

 the mammoth, and " between shores prob- 

 ably richer in such remains than any other 

 on the surface of the globe, and over a sea, 

 from whose bottom our dredge brought up, 

 along with pieces of drift-wood, half-decayed 

 portions of mammoth-tusks." The business 

 of gathering and disposing of these tusks is 

 really an important one, estimated to amount 

 to a hundred pairs a year, or twenty thou- 

 sand pairs since the country was conquered. 

 These figures indicate that the mammoth 

 population of the country must have been 

 more considerable than the impression of 

 the barrenness of the Arctic regions which 

 is given by a superficial view leads us to sup- 

 pose could have been the case. Professor 

 Xordenskiold finds no difficulty, however, in 

 indicating the sources whence these animals 

 derived their food. Having remarked that 

 the remains of food which were found in the 

 hollows of the teeth of a rhinoceros discov- 

 ered on the Wilui River consisted of por- 

 tions of leaves and needles of species of 

 trees that still grow in Siberia, he observes 

 that " it ou^ht not to be overlooked that in 

 sheltered places overflowed by the spring in- 

 undations there are found, still far north of 

 the limit of trees, luxuriant bushy thickets, 

 whose newly expanded juicy leaves, burned 

 up by no tropical sun, perhaps form a spe- 

 cial luxury for grass-eating animals, and that 

 even the bleakest stretches of land in the 

 high north are fertile in comparison with 

 many regions where at least the camel can 

 find nourishment." 



Even now the animal life in the extreme 

 north, as in Xova Zcmbla, in summer, "is 

 more vigorous and, perhaps, even more 

 abundant, or, to speak more correctly, less 

 concealed by the luxuriance of vegetation, 

 than in the south." Especially is this the 

 case with " the innumerable flocks of birds 



that swarm around the polar traveler dur- 

 ing the long summer days of the north." 

 Insects, also, of a few species, are remark- 

 ably abundant, considering that the soil is 

 continually frozen below the depth of a few 

 inches, but as a rule " the actual land ver- 

 tebrate fauna of the polar countries is ex- 

 ceedingly scanty in comparison with that 

 of more southerly regions. It is quite oth- 

 wise as regards the sea. Here animal life 

 is exceedingly abundant as far as man has 

 succeeded in making his way to the farthest 

 north. At nearly every sweep the dredge 

 brings up from the sea-bottom masses of 

 decapods,crustacea, mussels, asteroids, echi- 

 ni, etc., in varying forms, and the surface of 

 the sea on a sunny day swarms with ptero- 

 pods, beroids, surface-crustacea, etc, "A 

 greater number also of the higher types of 

 animals within the polar territory occur in 

 the sea than on the land. Having spent a 

 winter in the frozen ocean, the expedition 

 proceeded easward to and through Behring 

 Strait, and calling, always with scientific 

 intent, at Japan, China, and the East In- 

 dia islands, came around through the Red 

 Sea, the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean, and 

 the Atlantic Ocean, to its starting-point in 

 the Scandinavian waters, thus accomplish- 

 ing, for the first time in history, the circum- 

 navigation of Europe and Asia. 



Lectures on the Origin and Growth 

 of Religion as illustrated by Some 

 Points in the History of Indian Bud- 

 dhism. By T. W. Rhys Davids. New 

 York: G. P. Putnam's Sons. Pp. 262. 

 Price, $2.50. 



A religion which is believed to embrace 

 more adherents than any other system of 

 religious thought ; the fundamental princi- 

 ples of which are embodied in a literature 

 the merit and intrinsic interest of which 

 have received the general recognition ' of 

 scholars in all nations ; and some of the ex- 

 ternal aspects of which present a striking 

 resemblance to some Christian forms, is 

 entitled to be regarded as a most remark- 

 able outgrowth and manifestation of human 

 thought, and deserves profound and respect- 

 ful studv. Buddhism is such a religion as we 

 have described, and it receives the treatment 

 it merits at the hands of Mr. Davids, who is 

 considered one of the most competent living 

 authorities on the subject It has to be 



