THE YAKUTSK FRONTIER COUNTRY. '51 



forest zone of the Yakutsk frontier country and their dying out could only arise from their 

 being unable to accomodate themselves with the conditions of the country and acclimate 

 themselves. But this was not the case, as they became indigenous, and the occupa- 

 tion of the country by the Russians did not in any way deteriorate their position. The 

 Russian settlers, whose number does not exceed 6 • 5 per cent of the indigenous pop- 

 ulation, congregated together in a few spots of this region and could not in any 

 way oppress the Yakuts who have up to late years shown a natural increase. But the lives 

 of nations, living, not as cultured people, but as children of nature (naturvolker) are some- 

 times visited by scourges of nature which they are not in a condition to withstand. Epidem- 

 ics like small pox, epizootic which destroys the principal means of existence of cattle breed- 

 ing races, or temporary scarcity of wild animals or fish can all tend to decrease the pop- 

 ulation during certain periods, and when these evils are removed it again shows signs of 

 increasing. However the question as to whether a temporary decrease in the population has 

 brought about the idea that the natives of the Yakutsk frontier country are dying out, or 

 whether a cattle breeding race inhabiting a forest country, not entirely corresponding to 

 their pursuits, has attained the limit of capacity of the country, can only be decided by the future. 



To the north of the shore of Siberia proper and the borderland of Yakutsk stretches 

 the boundless surface of the Arctic Ocean. This cannot be regarded as being perfectly smooth, 

 not only because in many places more or less elevated islands or gi'oups of islands rise out 

 of it, but also because during nearly the whole year, except short and irregular periods, the 

 surface of the ocean is covered with ice. If it were not for this ice, which is an insurmount- 

 able barrier against navigation, and if the plains of Siberia as they gi'adually approach the 

 ocean were not transformed into ban'en tundras, from wliich not only is forest vegetation 

 banished but even all forms of organic life, and if the mouths of the Siberian rivers were not 

 ice bound during the greater part of the year, then the geographical position of Siberia 

 would be most brilliant for ocean communication and universal trade. 



Unfortunately the whole of the Arctic Ocean along the coast of Siberia is blocked 

 with ice during the greater part of the year. It is true that along the whole of the Asiatic 

 from the Yugorsky Sound to Cape Dezhnev at the entrance to the Behring Sea there are 

 no glaciers descending into the sea, so that there are but very few icebergs on the 

 coast of Siberia and those which are formed are very small, rarely more than 100 or 150 

 feet high; but in winter the surface of the sea is covered with ice, and there is hardly an 

 open space to be found along the whole of the Siberian coast. In winter the ice is often 

 more than 9 feet thick and the pressure of ice forms heaps of blocks piled up to a height of 

 60 or 70 feet. When the wind is fri^sh the falling snow causes fearful snowdrifts and snow- 

 storms. During such snowstorms tongue-shaped crests are formed upon the surface of tlie 

 snow running parallel with the direction of the predominating winds from west-north-west to 

 east-south-east and thus serve as a compass to guide travellers. During hard I'rosts numerous 

 chasms are formed in the ice through whicli water penetrates in spring and promotes the 

 thawing and breaking up of the ice in an astonishing degree. 



On the coast of Siberia the ice begins to break up at the end of .liuie, but further out 

 at sea it often lasts until the end of July. During the rest of the summer, however, 



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