392 THE VOYAGE OF THE VEGA. [oiiap. 



other hand, masses of whales' bones were found thrown up on 

 the beach. At first I did not bestow much attention upon 

 them, thinking they were the bones of whales that had been 

 killed during the recent whale -fishing period. I soon found 

 however that this could not have been the case. For the bones 

 had evidently been washed out of the sandy dune running along 

 the beach, which had been deposited at a time when the present 

 coast lay ten to twenty metres below the surface of the sea, 

 thus hundreds or thousands of years ago, undoubtedly before the 

 time when the north coast of Asia was first inhabited by man. 

 The dune sand is, as recently exposed profiles show, quite free 

 from other kitchen-midden remains than those which occur 



REFLECTION-HALO. 



Seen simu'tanecmsly with the Refraction-halo delineated on the preceding page, in tlie part 

 of the sky opposite the sun. 



upon its surface. The whales' bones in question were thus 

 subfossiL Their number was so great, that in the systematic 

 examination of the beach in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the vessel, which I undertook during spring with the assistance 

 of Dr. Kjellman and half a dozen of the sailors, thirty neck- 

 bones and innumerable other bones of the whale were found in 

 a stretch of from four to five kilometres. Of course masses of 

 bones are still concealed in the sand ; and a large number of 

 lower jaw-bones, ribs, shoulder-blades, and vertebrae had been 

 used for runner-shoes, tent-frames, spades, picks and other 

 imjjlements. A portion, after being exposed for several years to 



