294 



TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 



June, 1834. 



consequence of the elevation of the land, of which proofs have 

 lately been brought to light.* 



In a former part of this volume, I have endeavoured 

 to prove, that as far as regards the quantity of food, 

 there is no difficulty in supposing that these large qua- 

 drupeds inhabited sterile regions, producing but a scanty 

 vegetation. With respect to temperature, the woolly cover- 

 ing both of the elephant and the rhinoceros seems at 

 once to render it at least probable (although it has been 

 argued that some animals living in the hottest regions are 

 thickly clothed) that they were fitted for a cold climate. 

 I suppose no reason can be assigned why, during a former 

 epoch, when the pachydermata abounded over the greater 

 part of the world, some species should not have been fitted 

 for the northern regions, precisely as now happens with 

 deer and several other animals.f If, then, we believe that 

 the climate of Siberia, anteriorly to the physical changes 

 above alluded to, had some resemblance with that of the 

 southern hemisphere at the present day — a circumstance 

 which harmonizes well with other facts, J as I think has 



* Wrangel's Voyage in the Icy Sea in the years 1821, 1822, and 1823. 

 Edited by Professor Parrot, of Dorpat, Berlin, 1826. 



■\ Dr. Fleming first brought this notion forward in two papers pub- 

 lished in the Edinburgh Philosoph. Journ. (April, 1829, and Jan. 1830). 

 He adduces the case of alhed species of the bear, fox, hare, and ox, living 

 under widely different climates. 



if Since writing the above, I have been much interested by reading an 

 account by Professor Esmark, which proves that formerly, glaciers in 

 Norway descended to a lower altitude than at present ; and therefore, 

 that they came down to the level of the sea in a lower latitude. This, 

 according to generally-received ideas, would indicate a colder climate, and 

 so it was considered to do by Professor Esmark ; for he argues from it in 

 favour of Whiston's hypothesis, that the " earth in its aphelion was covered 

 with ice and snow." Professor Esmark describes a glacier-dike, in lat, 

 58° 57', as " lying close to the level of the sea, in a district, where you find 

 only a few heaps of perpetual snow in the hollows of the mountains." He 

 says, " Nqt only the dike itself, but the whole horizontal surface, exhibits 

 proofs that there has been a glacier here, for the plain exactly resembles 



