New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-08-17


the change 10 an arctic climate had been gradual,
the herds Of nammoths would probably have slowly
migrated southwark; OF, IL no actual migration
occurred the extinction of the mammoth popu-
lation would have been distributed over many
years and the destruction Of individuals would
have taken place at temperatures which were
still insuffciently rigorous 10 preserve their car
cases for o hundred ages. Whole herds Of
mammoths must have been overwhelmed by
sudden invasion of arctic weather Some
secular change produced an unprecedented pre-
cipitation Of snow. We may imagine eephantine
communities huddled together in the shelterng
valleys and Ia the deep deiles of the rivers. where,
previous occasions. they had found that protec-
ton which carried them safely through wntry
pause. Lake cattle overwhelmed in the gOrges
of Montana, the mammoths were rapidly
buried BY precipitation and by drifting, fifty
feet of snow, perhaps. accumulated above them.
They must perish and with the sudden change in
the climate their shToud Of snow would remain
wrapped about them through all the midness OF the
granular; 1t would DO mere or gr1. as IN
the glacier sources of the Alps 1t would
finally become sohd ie5S-9eomPact'r cIeari
be % glacier: and 10 would travel
down the goTges, down the valleys toward the
frozen ocean. sweeping buried mammOtbs bodily
in its resIstless stream. Thus IN the course of
ages, their mummied forms would reach
latitude more northern than that In which
they had been iunumeu. III may oven nave
been the case that living mammoths lin,
gered in the country which had witnessed
the snowy burial Of herds Of their
fellows. Some must have escaped the first great
snow-deluge aud there must have been a return Of
sunny DAYS, during which they could seek To rests-
citate their famished bodies; and Spring must nave
come back at last, and another hOpe-iDspiring
Summer-cheering, but short and illusory. And If
a secular pause in the severity OF the climate en-
sued. few survivors may have fingered Tor many
years. But Winter. dire and permanent was on the
march, and the record which it has left declares
that the mammoth population struggled IN VAN
against the despoism OF frost ana that me empire
which was set up has erumbled only under the at
tacks of many thousand Summers.
There has been "A time in the history OF the Aryan
family OF men when they seem 10 have suffered
from sudden change Of climate, which compelled
them to migrate southwark. when we trace the
movements Of the European nations backward, we
find i'm the remote past point OF divergence nom
the nations which crossed the Hindu-kush into the
Peninsula of India. In Central ASIA the ancestors
of Hindus lranians and Europeans we're one people.
There arose the Brahmanica hd Zoroastrlan religions
But the sacred books Of the latter contain al usions
10 remOter time, when the ancestors OF the ATyans
dwelt in a country blessed with seven months OF
Summer. This was Aryana Vaeio land OF de
light given by Ahura-AlaZda, aud supposed to have
been located IN Southern Turkestan, upon the
Plateau Of Pamir, or somewhat farther east IN the
beautiful valley Of Cashgar. But lest this paradise
should tempt all nations TO crowd in and OyerpOpu-
late IT, the "eyIl being. Angra-Mainyus
(Ahrman) full of death, created a mighty
Devas1 Now, ten months Of frost prevailed, sue
ceeded by only two months Of Summer. OF this
transformed region the PeRdiddd says: = There Is
the heart Of Winter; there all around falls deep
suOH There is the worst OF evils" 30 the ances-
tors of the ZOroastrians migrated from Aryana-
Va6io or Old Iran, southwark into New Iran.
within the modern Af2hanistan. The V6ndidGd, in
deed seems TO contain "reminiscences Of renOtcr mi
grations stretching from the Caucasus TO the Five
Rivers" or Puujab, interrupted by fourteen dlfer-
emit stations OF pauses, like those Of the sraelites
through the wilderness which separated them from
the Gland Of promise"
sudden change Of climate throughout the North
temperate zone, Ia times geOogcally recent are too
familiar 10 require more than mere mention. Tho
greater part Of Europe and all North America, 20
the latitude of 500, once buried beneath sheets
of glacier ice. In Europe we have evidence OF the
presence OF man while the continental glaciers were
flooding the rivers OF France by their rapid dis5olu
tlon At the same time the mammoth was there.
While thousands Of his fellow mammOtbs wee
lying stiff and stark in the icy cemeteries
former age had CHANGED to dwell In ATTITUDES which
perpetual snow had not invaded These were
part of the game which the primeyal inhabitants of
Europe pursued. OF bis IVORY they made handles
for their implements and weapons. On his ivory
they etched figures OF the named aud shaggy pro-
boscidian, of which neither history nor tradition
has preserved the memory. The bones and teeth
of the mammoth are strewn through all the cavern
homes and sequestered haunts Of the oldest tribes
who hunted and fought upon the plains and along
the valleys OF Europe.
AGE or SIBERIAN ELEPHANTS.
The reader will irresistibly lnquire " How many
years have elapsed since Siberian elephants were
encased in ice How many since their survivors
Numbered through the forests Of England and
Central Europe before the chase Of the human hunt
er 7" TO answer these questions We must ascertain
the remOteness Of the epochs of continental glaca-
ton and of the disappearance of the continental
glaciers. These are unsolved problems in science.
II continental glaciation was caused by a state
of maximum eccentrcity in the earths orbit, as
Mr.. Croll maintains, the last secular mid Winter
probably occurred about $4,000 years ago, and the
Siberian carcasses have lain preserved for eighty or
hundred thousand years and the decline Of the
gaciers, which witnessed the presence Of CTura-
miami man in Europe was probably not later
than $4,000 years ago. If continental glaea-
ton was caused by the procession of the equi-
noxes, as NJ. Adhemar contends the last geo
logical mid Winter may have been about
10000 years ago, and the pluvial condition OF
Europe somewhat less remote. Regardless of these
theories the present writer Is of the opinion that
the geological events which have taken place since
the epoch of general gaciatiOn do not demand over
ten thousand years and he incnes to think that
the pluVial epoch OF Western Europe NAV correspond
with those eataclysms of Europe and Western Asia
known as the deluges of Ogyges, DeucalI0n aud
Noah, and perhips OF tho Great fu IN China.
SURVIVING SPECIES.
Only two species Of elephants have survived to
our day. These are the African aud the Indian
(elephas 1ficaRHs and elephas IRdiens. The former
is distinguished by the rounded skull, the immense
ears and the lo1engeshaped figure presented by the
outeropping plates on the crowns Of the molar
teeth. The Indian elephant has an elongated or
pyramdally elevated skull, small and mar
row, elongated figures enclosed by the
plates Of the molars. Both species possess
five toes on each foot but the Indian
has only four hoofs behind. and the African three
behind and four nnteriorlyt The mammoth was