48 SIBERIA. 



of the Arctic Ocfan, iriorc tliaii iwo-tliinls, namely 63, were varieties comiuon to the Arctic 

 /one of Europe hut not liesccntiing inio Russia in Europe; 17 were American varieties also 

 common to the arctic zone (if Siheria. but not known in European Russia, whilst 12 were exclu- 

 sively Siliciiaii arctic lornis. Very lew ol' these latter are peculiar only to the north-cistern 

 corner oC Siberia. The first vernal plant wliieh tlowered near Nonlenskjolil's winter quarters 

 was the s[)(i(inwort (cochlearia fenestrata K. I'.r. I. This happened on the 23nl of June, new 

 style, ami duly a week after this, about July 1, ilid nalurc thoroughly awake, the tundras 

 became green, Howers blossomed and insects made their appearance, first of all Hies and then 

 coleoptera, amongst which there were two rather large kinds of cockchafers (carabus, C. 

 truncatipeniiis Esch). The local flora is characterized by the large amount of gramineous 

 plants, wiiicli in some place form a continuous sward. There were in all i;j dilTeront kinils 

 found and amongst these the original varieties were glyceria vilfoidea Th, Fr., Gl. 

 vaginata I. I.ge, arctophylla elTusa I. T^ge. There are plenty of bushes of different kinds 

 of low [)olar willows, the rarer vaiirties being salix chamissonis And., salix cuneata Trautv., 

 and salix boganidensis Trautv. 



The fauna of both zones of the Yakutsk region also closely resemble that of the 

 corresponding zones of Eastern Siberia, but the fur animals are more abundant and of a bet- 

 ter (lualily, pnd)ably because the outline of the Yakutsk frontier country is more varied and 

 the mountains and rocks which rise above the forests afford more free spaces for the species 

 of this region. In describing the animals which at present inhabit the forest and tundra zones 

 of the Yakutsk frontier country it is impossible to ignore those varieties which are now extinct 

 in these zones of Siberia. The genus elephant (elephas primigenius Bl) at a recent geolog- 

 ical epoch, when man already existed, inhabited the Avhole of the palearctic zone of the northern 

 hemisphere and, in contrast to the southern Indian elephants, it was covered with thick, long, 

 red hair. A splendidly preserved specimen of a whole mammoth with perfect skin and hair 

 was lately found in the polar tundra zone of the Yakutsk frontier country, and in 1892 a 

 special expedition was sent by the Academy of Sciences to examine it. The two varieties 

 of the rhinoceros (rhinoceros anticjuitatis Blumb. and rhinoceros MaerckiiJag.), which flourished 

 here at the same period, are no less interesting. They are discovered under the same conditions 

 as the mammoths; a fine head of one of these animals, found in the southern part of the 

 Yakutsk region, is preserved in the Academy of Sciences having been presented by the .Si- 

 berian Section of the Russian Geographical Society. 



As regards the population of the Yakutsk region, which has been iu the possession of 

 the Russians since the seventeenth century, the number and composition of the inhabitants 

 clearly show how little this country is suitable for settled colonization. The total population does 

 not exceed 250 thousand^ of both sexes, of which the Russian element only numbers 15 thous- 

 and or about 6 . 5 per cent, the remaining 93 . 5 per cent being made up of other tribes. The 

 greater part of these are the Yakuts, numbering about 220 thousand; they are of Tiurksk 

 origin, their language is a Tiurksk dalect with a mixture of Mongolian words. They have 

 preserved all their ethnographical features to a remarkable extent, type, language, manners 

 and customs and even dress. This Tiurksk tribe was driven to the far north by the Mongo- 

 lians at the time when their rule in Central Asia was supreme. Whilst preserving a nomadic 



