New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-12-27

NAV Even in Siberia, the land OF
great distances, there is only one.
To this little oasis of two or three thousand
Russian settlers and twice as many natives
the focal point of all the streams and bride
paths o. the wilderness OF northeastern ASA,
grayitate the tusks OF mammoths wnieh oeo
scores of thousands of years ago. 1t you
found one. it is long odds that you wouldn't
guess what it was, far less pay handful OF
good gold for it, But Tom wants his ivory
billiard balls and Mary her creamy piano keys
so the mad, white "toions" eagerly receive
ali this prehistoric trove that the Yakuti bring
in.
Sprawling in a litter Of straw, cheek by jowl
with our baggage we left the steel one even
ing and bore up into the north Three days
Of trekking over the steppe brought us out OF
the Buriat tribesmens country TO the verge OF
great belt Of forest and sub-Arctic jungle,
whence. by relay after relay of horses, we
iourneyed down the bank OF the upper Lena
to a village where we secured mosquito net
ting and sardines, kerosene and beer and the
services of three men in boat.
VOYAGING DOWNSTREAM IN THE
TWILIGHT OF AN ARCTIC MIDNIGHT.
Six days VIC voyaged downstream-perspir'
ing in deshabille on one day, shivering in
blankets the next-till we came in rainstorm
to village perched on a cliff at the confluence
OF tributary tugboat that fed ravenously
on logs took us north for three days, when IN
the mellow twilight of summer midnight,
under the lee of a silhouetted strip OF cedaTs
upthrown against the pink flush of dawn, there
was a midstream transfer to a sternwheeler,
which took us on to our destination.
A few years ago all the tusks came in piece
meal to this little town, but now the Siberian
traders who live here have pushed out their
feeers into the north A base of few huts
has been established down near the delta, and
here their agents await the arrival Of newly
found tusks, promptly exchanging for them
cotton goods and tobacco, brick tea and iron
cook pots.
When the ice foes pass down in early sum-
mer the boards Of tusks are sent upstream in
tugs, to be held couple of months for the
annual trading fair, when the Russian fur and
ivory agents come north with money and
goods and the Yakuti come south with the
spoils of the tundra.
THE NATIVES FETCH THE RICHES OF
A FROZEN COUNTRY.
Then business is brisk
In spite of the organized 3earchers in the
north, the large numbers of natives work in
dependently, themselves bringing down their
finds, along with dried moose and reindeer
pelts and clusters of furs.
Mooring their canoes along the waterfront,
they come up into the bazaar and squat by
their gear awaiting purchasers. Here one
finds tusks among skins of sable and ermine,
bear and wolf; white, blue and black fox;
squirrel and marmot, beaver and otter, weasel
and stoat and hamster; mountain sheep from
the peaks of the Verkhoyansk range.
key was turned in a massive paddock.
Bolts were drawn With muffled clang the
two folding doors of sheet iron were flung
back
We stepped out of the binding July sun
shine into pitch darkness.
well, what do you think Of 'em7" asked
the Russian.
Where are they?"
"Al around you. That's one against your
leg. Nicolai Ivanovtch, go and get
taper"
Before the workman came back, however
our eyes began to get used to the gloom; and
dimly at first, then more and more clearly,
this great hoard of Arctic loot appeared-lke
the slow developing of Photographic plate
Huge horns that curled this way and that.
Horns curved in almost circular spirals. The
hollows of horns and the tips Of horns. Tips
blunt and tips sharp. Horns as slim as a
bullock's or as thick as tree trunk. Horns
smooth as satin, as gnarled and rough as
weatherworn old logs. No, not horns, but
tusks, mammoth tusks by the dozen, by the
score-hundreds and hundreds of them, cairn
upon cairn, stack upon stack. Tons and tons
Of prehistoric ivory.