Ice-beds on Eschscholtz Bay 87 



catastrophe, and that there is proof both of the violence and sud- 

 denness of this catastrophe in the phenomenon of an entire rhi- 

 noceros found with its skin, tendons, Hgaments, and flesh preserved 

 in the frozen soil of the coldest part of eastern Siberia. On the 

 arrival of Pallas in Ircutia in March, 1772, the head of this animal 

 was laid before him, together with two of its feet, having their 

 skin and flesh hardened like a mummy ; it had been found in De- 

 cember, 1 77 1, in [609] the sand banks of the Wiluji, which runs in 

 about 64° of north latitude into the Lena ; the head and two feet 

 only were taken care of, the rest of the carcass, though much de- 

 cayed, was still enclosed in its skin, and was left to perish ; the bones 

 were yellow, the foot had on its skin many hairs and roots of hairs. 

 On various parts of the skin were stiff hairs from one to three 

 inches long. 



" If we compare these phenomena of the arctic regions with 

 those of other countries, and especially with England, we shall find 

 it by no means peculiar to the northern extremities of the world to 

 afford extensive deposits of diluvial mud and gravel, containing the 

 remains of extinct species of the elephant and rhinoceros, together 

 with those of horses, oxen, deer, and other land quadrupeds. A 

 large portion of the east coast of England, particularly of Essex, 

 Suffolk, Norfolk, Yorkshire, and Northumberland, is composed of 

 similar deposits of argillaceous diluvium, loaded in many places 

 with bones of the same species of quadrupeds ; these deposits occur 

 not only on the low grounds and lands of moderate elevation, but 

 also on the summits of the highest hills, e. g., on the chalky cliff of 

 Flamborough Head, four hundred and thirty feet above the sea. 

 In the central parts of England, near Rugby, we have similar de- 

 posits, containing bones, tusks, and teeth of the same species of 

 animals. In Scotland we have the same argillaceous diluvium on 

 the east coast, near Peterhead, and near the western coast, at Kil- 

 mours, in Ayrshire, where it contains tusks of elephants and bones. 



" The analogies which these deposits offer to those in the arctic 

 regions are striking. In both cases the bones are of the same spe- 

 cies of animals. In both cases they are imbedded in superficial 

 deposits of mud and gravel of enormous extent and thickness. In 

 both cases the deposits derive no accession from existing causes, and 

 are suffering only continual loss and destruction by the action of 

 the atmosphere, of rivers, and of the sea. Their chief peculiarity 

 in the polar regions seems to consist in the congealation, to which 

 the diluvium itself as well as the remains included in it are subject, 

 from the influence of the present polar climate. Examples might 



