The Van Buren press., 1895-02-09
TOLLS SIBERIAN EXPEDITION.

TOLLS SIBERIAN EXPEDITION.
The Russian I'aron's Explorations In sea
Covered 5000 Miles.
One of the most suceessful explora:
tiont OF recent yea,c was Baron Tolls
expedition in 1898 to Arctic Siberia and
the new Siberian islands. This enter
prise was organized by the st. Peters
burg Academy of sciences and its pri-
mary purpose was to investigate the
report Of q Siberian merchant that the
Perfect body of fnammoth had been
6iscBvefHd near the Arctic sea. AL,
though many fragments Of these ami
mails have been found, the bodies Or
sven the skeletons have rarely been in
= state Of good preservation, and the
st. Petersburg Academy Of sciences has
more than once demonstrated it's will
ingness to investigate the reports that
such prizes are attainable. There is
always q large probability that these
reports are inaccurate, and Baron Toll
was told to examine not only the man.
moth find, but also to explore the very
little known tundra region west Of the
Lena river.
The hopes with regard to the NAM
moth were not fulfilled. The spot in
dicated was some distance inland, di-
rectly south Of the New Siberian
islands. Small pieces of wool-bearing
skin, parts of the extremities and the
lower jaw Of young mammoth were
dug from the recent alluvial sands that
had covered them after they had been
washed by the Sanga- Yolyakh river ont
Of post-tertiary beds in which they
were originally buried. The skull was
broken and the tusks had, of course,
become the spoil of some hunter.
In his subsequent journeys Baron
Toll, with his comrade, Lieut.. Shileiko,
visited the New Siberian islands, and
explored the Arctic tundras for nearly
fifty degrees of longitude.
In the most southern Of the New ST.
berian islands Baron Toll found under
the permanent lee sediihentary de-
posit made in sweet water, and thus
apparently found where this island was
q part of the mainland. In this deposit,
mixed with pieces of willow and the
bones Of mammoths and other post
tertiary mammals, were complete
trees, fifteen feet long, with leaves
and cones. This interesting discovery
shows that at the time when the mann
moth wandered over north Asia and
Europe tree vegetation reached the
74th degree of latitude, and SO its
northern limit was at least two hum
dred miles north of the line that now
marks its boundary in that direction.
The baron makes some interesting
observations on the present animal life
of the islands. He says the only win
ter inhabitants of the archipelago are
white mice, which he found there in
great quantities in the spring. They
furnish abundant food to one or two
varieties of gulls, and also to white
bears, which were frequently met
The mice were in a state of feverish
activity, travelling from one island to
another, and making the long journey
over the ice to and from the continent,
while geese and gulls, which abandon
the islands in the fall, were returning
to their summer haunts.
The explorer observed some of the
vagaries of the Arctic spring and sum-
mer climate. When Baron Toll made
his first visit to the islands in May,
1886, the temperature was far below
the freezing point. At the same period
last year, however, warm, rainy days
were the forerunner of summer, and
two months later, on the coast of the
Arctic ocean, in latitude seventy-two
degrees, the temperature was ninety
three degrees Fahrenheit above zero,
rivaling the dog days of this latitude.
The heat intensified the plague of
gnats, and the baron thinks he has
discovered the real usefulness Of these
pests in the Siberian tundras. He says
they greatly annoy the wild reindeer,
keep them on the move, and drive them
within convenient reach of the few
| scattered inhabitants of tn t region;
30 gnats and mosquitoes, he thinks,
serve useful purpose as FOUNDERS up
of game for the benefit Of the Arctic
cousins of our Esquimaux.
Biologists will find much of interest
In the record of Baron Tolls work in
the region west of the Lena river
drained by the Anabar, a region that
had not been visited by European
for more than one hundred and fifty
years. Here and there in northern 81.
IBERIA have been found, isolated or in
bowlder, specimens of that wide spread
fossil Of many varieties, the ammonite;
but Baron Toll, in the Anabar basin,
first saw it in it's appropriate geological
horizon, and he was thus able to learn
| its proper place in the succession OF
| fossils of mesozoie time. lie has been
the first also to discover traces Of gla-
citation in northern Siberia. In one
cliff in Anabar bay he found the creta-
ceous deposits covered with angular
powders twenty or more feet in diam.
eter, many OF them polished and
scratched. The original location OF
these fragments was about two hun.
dred and seventy miles northwest OF
the place where they are found and
there is no doubt that they form mo.
raine.
During his work Baron Toll rode
hundreds of miles on the backs Of rein.
deer, and proved that the tundras may
be crossed at any time of the year in
this manner. The reindeer easily
cross the swampiest places, and if the
| traveller has in addition boat made oi
q poplar tree of three larch planks for
crossing the rivers he need not feai
meeting any impediment in the Siber'
| ian tundras.
The result of the expedition were
'tover three thousand miles of survey
based upon thirty-eight positions as