BONES OF MAMMOTHS. 
39 
was prevented from gratifying his wish by a heavy fall of snow 
that had just taken place, combined with the immense circuit 
it would have occasioned in our journey. The circumstance of 
a whole animal having been found on the coast of the Frozen 
Ocean, was a great curiosity, as we had hitherto never heard 
of any thing more than-single bones and tusks, which are fre¬ 
quently collected, and form a branch of commerce for a com¬ 
pany of Russian merchants, who call them by the name of 
mammons knocken (mammoth bones). They are found in the 
greatest quantities on the Laecherishi Islands in the Frozen Ocean, 
opposite to the mouth of the river Jana. A natural question 
here arises, which is entitled to consideration. How could 
these animals have inhabited a dreary climate, so ill suited to 
them, where the cold is intense ?—Some are of opinion, 
that they are not natives of this place, having been brought 
hither from warmer countries in early ages for military purposes; 
others conjecture, that they were transported hither in the uni¬ 
versal deluge: but both suppositions appear to me untenable. 
Such marshy, unfruitful, and mountainous countries as these are, 
could never have been witness to any warfare ill which elephants 
or the like unwieldy animals were used; since the horses here, 
which are inured to every species of fatigue, are frequently un¬ 
equal to the task of travelling in these uneven and slippery tracks. 
Nor is it more probable, that any deluge (particularly at the very 
remote period of the universal deluge), could have carried ani¬ 
mals with it to the distance of 5000 versts, which now separate 
this country from a warmer climate. For my own part, I am 
rather inclined to attribute this phenomenon to some extraordi¬ 
nary change in the globe, and suppose, that the elements in this 
quarter of the world w r ere once more congenial to those animals 
than at present; and with this suggestion I shall leave the matter 
to the decision of the naturalist. 
The road as far as Saschiwersk led us through a succession 
of woods, marshes, and lakes; two of which latter were nearly 
thirty versts in circumference. These lakes are in general all 
connected together by brooks and rivulets which run into the 
Alaseja. 
On the 10th of October, the cold became severe in the ex¬ 
treme, insomuch, that an old man in our company of above sixty, 
master of our baidars, who had not our youth and vigour of 
constitution, to shield him from the inclemency of the weather, 
sunk into despair, and resolved on meeting his fate in the woods. 
With the utmost difficulty 1 persuaded him to go on a little way 
farther, promising to leave him behind at the next habitation vve 
came to We very fortunately reached two isbens the next day. 
