CULTURE OF CIRCUMPOLAR ZONE — BOGORAS 467 



On the other hand, the land part of the Circumpolar Zone of 

 Eurasia is developeil more tlian in America and it is covered by a 

 culture more ancient and more productive. The surface of land in 

 the Polar Zone of Eurasia is lar;j;er than that of America (not in- 

 cluding islands) and represents about three-fifths of the whole 

 surface of the zone. 



The Antarctic zone, which represents for ^eo<;raphers a certain 

 important unit, presents very little interest for the ethnoujrapher, 

 since it never had any population and up to the present time remains 

 outside the ran<j;e of human culture. 



The whole stretch of the Circumpolar zone, from North Cape to 

 Berinjx Strait and from Bering Strait to Greenland, presents similar 

 natural conditions. These conditions may be divided into five proups 

 which are mutually connected but nevertheless represent five different 

 points of view. They are: First, cosmo<2;raphical or astronomical; 

 second, meteoroloujical ; third, fjeographical («;eolo<;i(.al) ; fourth, 

 floral; fifth, faunal. The mutual interaction of these five groups 

 forms the natural base upon which the culture of the far north is 

 constructed. I will try to give brief characteristics of these groups, 

 one after another. 



1. Cosmographical or astronomical conditions of the Polar zone 

 are connected with the position of the earth on the ecliptic. Accord- 

 ing to this position, the north polar circle forms the southern border 

 of the area which has in midsummer the continuous day and in mid- 

 winter the continuous night. And so, for instance, on G8°-70° of 

 north latitude we have in the Polar zone three or four weeks of con- 

 tinuous night in the winter and as many weeks of continuous sunshine 

 in the summer. Therefore the transition from night to day in spring 

 and the growth of the daytime in the Polar zone is much more rapid 

 and striking. Since the equinox is the same for all cosmographical 

 zones, the growing of the daytime from zero to 24 hours must go 

 with much greater rapidity than in the south. In this way, after 

 the 20th of Marcli, the day grows as it were by leaps and in the middle 

 of April the glow of the dawn shines throughout the night, and one 

 may work and read or write even at midnight. The snow, how- 

 ever, is not melted as yet and the frost in the night is sharp enough. 

 These conditions produce in the north the .so-called white spring, 

 which is the first half of the spring, and lasts much longer than the 

 second half, the so-called green spring. Daytime lasts 16, 18, 20, 

 22 hours; the night, all ruddy from the glowing sky, 8, 6, 4, 2 hours. 

 The snow melts in the midday sun, but the currents of the water freeze 

 again at midnight. The difference of the temperature is often 

 + 20** C. —20° C. These daily changes in temperature work on 

 the psychology of animals and men like a special tonic, awakening 



