X.] CHRISTMAS, 1878. 393 



the action of the air, had undergone decay. The bones are there- 

 fore found in greatest number at those places where the sand of 

 tlie dune has been recently carried away by the spring floods or 

 by the furious winds which prevail here, and which easily gain 

 the ascendency over the dry sand, bound together only by 

 widely scattered Elymus-stalks. The largest crania belonged to 

 a species nearly allied to the Balcena mysticetus. Crania of a 

 species of Rachianectes are also found along with some bones of 

 smaller varieties of the whale. No complete skeleton however 

 has been found, but we brought home with us so large a quantity 

 of the loose bones that the collection of whales' bones alone 

 would have formed a full cargo for a small vessel. These bones 

 will be delineated and described by Professor. A. W. Malm in 

 The Scientific Work of the Vega Expedition. Special attention 

 was drawn to a skeleton, belonging to the Balcnvi mysticetus, by 

 its being still partially covered with skin, and by deep red, 

 almost fresh, flesh adhering to those parts of it which were 

 frozen fast in the ground. This skeleton lay at a place where 

 the dune sand had recently been washed away and the coarse 



SECTION OF THE BEACH STRATA AT PITLEKAJ. 



1. Hard frozen coarse sai:d. 2. Tlie sea. 3. Beach of fine dry sand with masses of bones of the 

 wliale. i'. Coast-lagoon. 



underlying sand uncovered, the \A\QXQ-mummy also I suppose 

 coming to light at the same time. That the whale in question 

 had not stranded in the memory of man the Chukches assured 

 me unanimously. In such a case we have here a proof that 

 even portions of the flesh of gigantic sea-animals have been 

 protected against putrefaction in the frozen soil of Siberia — a 

 parallel to the mammoth-7?iM7?i«iics, though from a considerably 

 more recent period. 



Christmas Eve was celebrated in the usual northern fashion. 

 We had indeed neglected, as in the Expedition of 1872-73, to 

 take with us any Christmas tree. But instead of it Dr. Kjellman 

 prevailed on our Chukch friends to bring with dog-sledges 

 willow-bushes from the valleys lying beyond the mountains to 

 the south. By means of these a bare driftwood stem was 

 converted into a luxuriant, branchy tree which, to replace the 

 verdure, was clothed with variegated strips of paper, and planted 

 in the 'tweendecks, which after our enclosure in the ice had 

 been arranged as a working room, and was now set in order for 



