The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1879-11-13
A Strange Arctic Region.


and left the stout ship enslaved in those
northern solitudes, Professor Nordens
jold wrote letter to DIR. Oscar Dickson,
the main contributor toward the fitting
out of the expedition, describing the
scenes along the coast. The letter, dis
patched on the Goth of February, has at
last reached its destination, and is now
published in the London Standard. The
letter calls attention, in the first place,
to group of islands which are very re-
markable from scientific point of view.
These islands, the new Siberian, open
the book of the history of the world at a
new place The ground there is strewn
with wonderful fossils Whole hills are
covered with the bones of the mammoth
rhinocerous, horses, uri, bison, oxen,
sheep, etc. The sea washes up ivory
from the sea shores. In this group is
possibly to he found the solution of the
question of the ancestry of the Indian
elephant, and important facts with re-
gard to the vertebrates which existed at
the time of mans first appearance upon
earth. How came horses and sheep in
a region now locked in The letters of an
eternal Winter, uninhabited by men, not
now supporting animal life in any form,
ard almost impossible of access! Pro-
fessor Nordenskjold was unable to solve
the question himself, and he suggests
that it is of the utmost Importance to
science to send a light draught steel
steamer to those islands for a thorough
explanation.
At Cape Schelagskotf the Vega passed
the point where the Siberian merchant
SchalAwrotf ended his persistent and in
trepid attempts to reach Behring Strait
from the river Lena, by lonely death,
with his whole company of men in hut
on the snow clad shore. Upon rounding
this cape Nordenskjold met the first ma
tives seen along that whole coast. They
spoke tongue utterly unknown. Not
comprehensive sentence could they
ute, in any European language. They
lived in tents pitched on the sand banks
separating the lagoons 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, a few
brass buttons and the piece of tin foil on
cake of soap to golden roubles and sill
yer coins; they live an active and healthy
life, use stone and bone implements, and
are without trace of religion in their
customs Their tents are double, one
within the other. The children are
totally naked within the inner tent,
and were often seen outside, running
about on the frozen ground with the
| temperature down below 30 degrees.
The women wear nothing when within
the tents except a gir1le, and the men
have shaven heads. A remarkable sim
ilarity was noticed between the nipple
ments, dresses and customs OF these PEG
pie and those of the Esquimaux and
North American Indians. These people
a,e the Tschuktschers Though armed
with stone and bone weapons
and, though wild and itinerant
the evidently have a history
They drove off the original in
habitants of the region POO years ago
the Onkilons. whose houses, places OF
sacrifice, circles of moss grown bear
skulls and weapons are still to be found
almost everywhere on the coast. Lieut..
Norqvist devoted himself to learning
their language. These Indians are on
the original highway between the cradle
of the human race and the home of the
aborigines of the northern part of North
America, and it is not thought that the
| resemblance between them and the
Greenlanders is accidental The arrival
of the Vega on the Tschuitscher coast
was an event like the landing of Column
bus in the New World. 1t was an un-
precedented occurrence and made SEN
sation throughout the region
East of the Lena, Prof, Nordensk Old
| found on shore no scattered blocks OF
stone such as are distributed over a con
tinent 10y glaciers and such as are found
elsewhere in Siberia. This fact was
| held to point to the absence of land on;
to sea north of that coast, and 1t eNcites
| anticipations rs to the possible dlscoN Ell
les which are to he made by the Jean
nette Not the least of the pecularities
| Of this strange region is the fact that
the coast appears to be rising slowly out
of the sea. The inhabitants have t.
/ shift their villages at times nearer to the
edge OF the water, which is gradually re-
cedins from them Prot Nordcnskiold