ELEPHANT OF THE LENA. 147 



stance is a clear pure ice ; it inclines towards the 

 sea ; its top is covered with a layer of moss and 

 friable earth, half an archine (fourteen inches) in 

 thickness. During the heat of the month of July, 

 a part of this crust is melted, but the rest remains 

 frozen. Curiosity induced me to ascend two 

 other hills at some distance from the sea ; they 

 were of the same substance and less covered with 

 moss. In various places were seen enormous 

 pieces of wood of all the kinds produced in 

 Siberia; and also Mammoth's horns in great 

 numbers appeared between the hollows of the 

 rocks ; they all were of astonishing freshness. 



" How all these things could become collected 

 there, is a question as curious as it is difficult to 

 resolve. The inhabitants of the coast call this 

 kind of wood Adamschina, and distinguish it 

 from the floating pieces of wood which are 

 brought down by the large rivers to the ocean, 

 and collect in masses on the shores of the frozen 

 sea. The latter are called Noachina. I have 

 seen, when the ice melts, large lumps of earth 

 detached upon the hills, mix with the water, and 

 form thick muddy torrents which roll towards 

 the sea. This earth forms wedges which fill up 

 the spaces between the blocks of ice. 



" The escarpment of ice was thirty-five to forty 

 toises high ; and, according to the report of the 

 Tungusians, the animal was, when they first saw 

 it, seven toises below tho surface of the ice, &c. 



