THE GEOLOGY OF KOLGUEV 393 



tundra), are, as near as I could estimate them by aneroid, two hundred 

 and fifty feet above the level of the sea. They are essentially great 

 heaps of sand, terminating in peaks and ridges, carved into a curious 

 confusion of crater-like hollows and gullies by the melting snows. On 

 these hills the winter snow remained longest, and had not all melted there 

 when I visited them on August 26. Siecherhur, a 'bolvan mountain,' 

 is really a remarkable hill in appearance. Thickly covered with grasses, 

 almost completely circular at its base, it rises suddenly from the general 

 level — a conical hill, as smoothly and regularly formed as though an old 

 artificial camp. Another hill, Honorohur of the Samoyeds, is a very 

 conspicuous object from far round, and very characteristic in shape ; so 

 that it is called by the Russians ' Lodka ' (the boat), for that is the 

 appearance it presents to them when seen from the mouth of the 

 Pugrinoy. 



There is not the slightest evidence to suggest that Kolguev ever 

 supported an ice-sheet. There is not, over the entire island, a trace of 

 a moraine, either lateral or terminal. I came across no beds of true 

 till, or typical boulder-clay. All the deposits are referable to wave 

 and oceanic forces, and Kolguev is essentially a water-and-ice formed 

 island. 



It is not within my province to suggest from what river system the 

 material was derived which forms the modern island of Kolguev, 

 whether it was brought down by the Petchora or by other rivers, but 

 there can be no doubt that it represents the wearing down of the 

 adjacent continent, and the strewing of the sea bottom with ice-borne 

 erratics. 



No better evidence to the formation of Kolguev could be obtained 

 than that afforded by such a point as the summit of Mount Sowandeyi. 

 This is indeed a key to the whole geological history of the island. 



He who stands there sees before him to the north a wide high plain 

 of peat and lakes, studded with hills which have the appearance of 

 gigantic ant-heaps ; a nearer examination of these shows them to be 

 formed of sand, clay, and debris of small stones. They exactly corre- 

 spond with the constitution of the hill on which he now stands. 



This hill has the shape of a broken and hollow cone grass-clad on 

 three sides. The traveller who ascends to the top finds himself suddenly 



