Considerations cotinected with the Glacier Theory, 37 



ing of three kinds of hair, one under the other, and hence was 

 more capable of inhabiting colder regions than are our living 

 species. Even at the present day, among the Tungouses, the 

 camel of the hot deserts is associated with the rein-deer of 

 the northern icy regions as a domestic animal. It has, how-' 

 ever, been said, on the other hand, that the incalculable num- 

 ber of elephants whose remains are buried in Siberia could 

 not possibly have found sufficient nourishment there. But we 

 must remember that these remains have been buried very 

 gradually during the course of thousands of years, and there- 

 fore by no means indicate a very numerous race. In sum- 

 mer, moreover, the soil is by no means so unproductive as is 

 generally supposed. Even where it is frozen to a depth 

 of several fathoms, large trees take root in it, for in sum- 

 mer it thaws to a depth of from 2 to 16 feet. Around 

 Jakutzk itself, where the mean temperature is — 7^° C. (about 

 + 20° F.), and where the soil is frozen to a depth of several 

 hundred feet, there is a considerable quantity of fruit, and 

 the rearing of cattle flourishes; woods of larch cover the 

 mountain acclivities to a height of 2400 feet above the level 

 of the sea.* But Jakutzk, though it lies much to the south, 

 is still nearly in the same isothermal line as those coasts of 

 the Icy Sea which are so rich in remains of elephants. It 

 will, however, be said, that elephants, at all events in 

 winter, could find little nourishment in these regions ; but 

 the answer to this is, that, like so many other quadrupeds, 

 they might have wandered to the south at that season. Like 

 the bears of the Polar Sea, the land- bears of America, the 

 squirrel (Sciurus Carolinianus) of America,! and like the 

 lemmings of Scandinavia, which at the beginning of win- 

 ter regularly migrate in armies of thousands, so might the 

 elephants have done, for they are otherwise well known to 

 be animals that perform extensive wanderings. But do 

 not the excellent preservation of the ivory in the soil 

 of Siberia, the envelopment of the elephants with their flesh 



* See Erman, in his introduction to the " Archivf'dr wissenscha/tliche Kunde 

 von Ru^sland.'' 



t Michaux, Voijage a Vouesi dUs Monts Alleghany s, Paris 1804, p. 189. 



