.CONQUEST OF SIBERIA BY THE RUSSIANS. 



203 



found in great numbers along the shores, or on the steep and sandy river-banks 

 of Northern Siberia, along with those of fossil species of the horse, the musk- 

 ox, and the bison, which have now totally forsaken the Arctic wilds. 



The Archipelago of New Siberia, situated to the north of the Lachow Isl- 

 ands, was discovered by Sirowatsky in 1806, and since then scientifically ex- 

 plored by Hedenstrom in 1808, and Anjou in 1823. These islands are remark- 

 able no less for the numerous bones of horses, buffaloes, oxen, and sheep scat- 

 tered over their desolate shores, than for the vast quantities of fossil-wood im- 

 bedded in their soil. The hills, which rise to a considerable altitude, consist 

 of horizontal beds of sandstone, alternating with bituminous beams or trunks 

 of trees. On ascending them, fossilized charcoal is everywhere met with, in- 

 crusted with an ash-colored matter, which is so hard that it can scarcely be 

 scraped off with a knife. On the summit there is a long row of beams resem- 

 bling the former, but fixed perpendicularly in the sandstone. The ends, which 

 project from seven to ten inches, are for the most part broken, and the whole 

 has the appearance of a ruinous dike. Thus a robust forest vegetation once 

 flourished where now only hardy lichens can be seen; and many herbivorous 

 animals feasted on grasses where now the reindeer finds but a scanty supply of 

 moss, and the polar bear is the sole lord of the dreary waste. 



