Litchfield enquirer., 1879-11-13
A Remarkable Group of Islands.
MILES OF ELEPHANT IVORY IN ARCTIC SHOWS
 RACE OF PEOPLE WITH HISTORY,

When, one year ago, the ice closed in upon the Vega and left the stout ship enslaved in those northern solitudes, 130 miles from Beh- ring Straits, Professor Nordensjold wrote letter to Dr. Oscar Dickson, the main contribu- tor toward the fitting out of the expedition, describing the scenes along the Siberian coast. The letter, dispatched on the 20th of Februa- ", has at last reached it's destination, and is now published in the London Standard. The letter calls attention. in the first place. to group of islands which are very remarkable from scientific point of view. These islands, the New Siberian, open the book of the histo- ry oi the world at a new place. The ground there is strewn with wonderful fossils. Whole hills are covered with the bones of the man. moth, the rhinoceros, horses, uri, bison, oxen, sheep, etc. The sea washes up ivory upon the shore. In this group is possibly to be found the solution of the question of the ancestry of the Indian elephant, and important facts with regard to the vertebrates which existed at the time of mans first appearance upon earth. How came horses and sheep in region now locked in the letters of an eternal winter, un- inhabited by man, not now supporting animal life in any form, and almost impossible of access Professor Nondenskjold was unable to solve the question himself, and he suggests that it is of the utmost importance to science to send light -draught steel steamer to those Islands TOT tlOrOugn eXpl0ratlOn.
 At Cape Schelagskoff the Vega passed the point where the Siberian merchant Schalawroff ended his persistent and intrepid attempts to reach Behring Straits from the river Lena, by lonely death with his whole company of men
 in hut on the snow clad shore. Upon round- ing this cape, Norkenskjol met the first na- tives that he had seen along that whole coast They spoke tongue utterly unknown. Not a comprehensible sentence could they utter in any European language. They lived in tents pitched on the sand banks separating the la- goons peculiar to this coast from the sea. A hardy, jovial, handsome race-fur-clad, keen at barter, ignorant of the value of money, and preferring red flannel shirt, few brass but tons and piece of tin-foil on cake of soap to golden roubles and silver coins, they live an active and healthy life, use stone and bone im- plements, and are without a trace of religion in their customs. Their tents are double, one withinthe other The children are totally uaked within the inner tent and were often seen out side, running about on the frozen ground with the temperature down below 32o. The wom-' en wear nothing, when within the tents, ex- cept girdle, and the men have shaven heads. A remarkable similarity was noticed between the implements, dresses and customs of these people and those of the Esquimaux and North American Indians These people are the Tschuktschers. Though armed with stone and bone weapons, and though wild and itinerant, they evidently have history. They drove off the original inhabitants of the region 200 years ago-the Onkilons, whose houses, places of sacrifice, circles of moss grown bear skulls and weapons are still to be found everywhere on the coast Lieutenant Nordquist devoted himself to learning the language These Indi- ans are on the original highway between the cradle of the human race and the home of the aboriginees of the northern part of North America, and it is not thought that the resem- blance between them and the Greenlanders is accidental. The arrival of the Vega on the Tschutscher coast was an event like the land ing of Columbus in the New World. It was an unprecedented occurrence, and made sen- sation throughout the region.