IVORY ISLANDS IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 43 
that the whole soil of the island seemed to be formed of 
elephants’ bones. Another of Hedenstrém’s discoveries was 
equally wonderful. He found that on a sand-bank on the 
western side of the island after a strong gale, mammoth bones 
and tusks were always found to be washed up, so that it was 
plain that there was an enormous accumulation of elephants’ 
remains wnder the sea in this region. The other islands further 
to the north were also visited by these explorers. Sannikoff 
explored Kotelnoi, and found that this large island was full of 
the bones and teeth of elephants, rhinoceroses, and musk-oxen. 
Having explored the coasts Sannikoff determined, as there was 
nothing but barrenness along the shore, to cross the island. He 
drove in reindeer sledges up the Czarina River, over the hills, 
and down the Sannikoff River, and completed the circuit of the 
island. All over the hills in the interior of the island Sannikoff 
found the bones and tusks of elephants, rhinoceroses, buffaloes, 
and horses in such vast numbers, that he concluded that these 
animals must have lived in the island in enormous herds, when 
the climate was milder. When on the island of Fadeyeffskoi, 
which les immediately to the east of Kotelnoi, Sannikotf saw 
far to the north a distant land with high mountains, and started 
in sledges over the ice to explore it. He, however, could not 
reach the unknown island, for when he had gone about thirty- 
five miles over the ice, he came to a large expanse of open 
water which extended on every side. This was in the beginning 
of April, 1811, and another attempt to go northwards, made by 
him shortly afterwards, was also stopped by open water. 
Hedenstrom and Sannikoff thoroughly examined the large 
island of New Siberia, which contained wonders as surprising as 
Kotelnoi, and so enormous were the quantities of mammoths’ 
tusks on it, that in 1809 Sannikoff brought away 10,000 lbs. of 
fossil ivory from New Siberia alone. It was on this dreary 
and icy island that Hedenstrom made another remarkable 
discovery. He found in this desolate wilderness, the shores of 
which are blocked by ice for the greater part of the year, the 
remains of enormous petrified forests. The trunks of the trees 
in these ruins of ancient forests were partly standing upright 
and partly lying horizontally buried in the frozen soil. Their 
extent was very great, and he described them as follows :— 
“On the southern coast of New Siberia are found the remarkable 
wood hills (ve, the remains of the forests). They are 30 
fathoms high, and consist of horizontal strata of sandstone, 
alternating with strata of bituminous beams or trunks of trees. 
On ascending these hills fossilized charcoal is everywhere met, 
