ELEPHANT OF THE LENA. 
147 
stance is a clear pure ice ; it inclines towards the 
sea ; its top is covered with a layer of moss and 
friable earth, half an archine (fourteen inches) in 
thickness. During the heat of the month of July, 
a part of this crust is melted, but the rest remains 
frozen. Curiosity induced me to ascend two 
other hills at some distance from the sea ; they 
were of the same substance and less covered with 
moss. In various places were seen enormous 
pieces of wood of all the kinds produced in 
Siberia; and also Mammoth’s horns in great 
numbers appeared between the hollows of the 
rocks ; they all were of astonishing freshness. 
“ How all these things could become collected 
there, is a question as curious as it is difficult to 
resolve. The inhabitants of the coast call this 
kind of wood Adamschina, and distinguish it 
from the floating pieces of wood which are 
brought down by the large rivers to the ocean, 
and collect in masses on the shores of the frozen 
sea. The latter are called Noachina. I have 
seen, when the ice melts, large lumps of earth 
detached upon the hills, mix with the water, and 
form thick muddy torrents which roll towards 
the sea. This earth forms wedges which fill up 
the spaces between the blocks of ice. 
“ The escarpment of ice was thirty-five to forty 
toises high ; and, according to the report of the 
Tungusians, the animal was, when they first saw 
it, seven toises below the surface of the ice, &c. 
