254 FROM NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. 



however, did not seem to concern themselves in the least about the 

 innumerable victims falling in their midst; in fact, they took no 

 notice of anything, and allowed nothing to divert them from their 

 route. The procession lasted for three whole days, from early 

 morning till late in the evening, and only after nightfall each day 

 was there a break in the continuity of the stream. All travelled 

 in exactly the same direction, from south to north, and those that 

 came last took the same paths as their predecessors. The rushing 

 Tchussoveia proved no obstacle, for all that reached the bank of 

 that rapid mountain-river plunged without hesitation into its 

 whirling and seething waters, and swam, deeply sunk and with 

 their tails laid across their backs, to the opposite bank. My 

 informant, who had been watching the procession with growing 

 attention and sympathy, rowed out into the midst of the throng. 

 The tired swimmers, to whom he stretched out an oar, climbed up 

 by it into the boat, where, apparently exhausted, they sat quietly 

 and confidingly, until it came alongside a larger vessel, when they 

 climbed into that, and remained on it for some time as indiffer- 

 ent as before. As soon as the boat touched the bank they sprang 

 ashore, and proceeded on their journey as unconcernedly as if it 

 had suffered no interruption. 



It must be similar circumstances which compel the lemmings to 

 the migrations which have been known for centuries. For many 

 successive years the heights in the tundras of Scandinavia, North 

 Russia, and the North of Siberia afford them comfortable quarters 

 and abundant nourishment; for the broad ridges of the fjelds and 

 the extensive plains between them, the highlands and the low 

 grounds, offer room and maintenance for millions of them. But 

 not every year do they enjoy the accustomed abundance for the 

 whole summer. If a winter in which much snow falls, and which 

 is therefore favourable to them, as they live safely below the snow, 

 be followed by an early, warm, and agreeable spring, their extra- 

 ordinary fertility and power of increase seem to have almost no 

 bounds, and the tundra literally teems with lemmings. A fine 

 warm summer increases their numbers past computing, but it also 

 accelerates the life-course of all the plants on which they feed, and 



