The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1925-03-24
MEAT so THOUSAND
YEARS IN "ST0RAGE"
HUNTERS ON SIBERIAN IS
LANDS FIND MAMMOTH CAR
CASSES ARE EATABLE.

Is the recent warning of the Russian
covernment against aliens landing on
the Islands north of Siberia spelling a
summer trip for you by any chance
# is, it may add to your discomfort
N know that you are missing a pos
s;b1e gastronomic adventure that could
mot be duplicated anywhere else in the
vorld-the chance of eating mann
moth meat placed in cold starage so,
coo or more years ago.
A bulletin from the headquarters of
the National Geographic Society tells
something of these little-known is
lands that soviet diplomacy is thrust
inc into the worlds consciousness.
Where Ivory Is Mined.
1T is necessary to throw overheard
numerous opinions and definitions in
dealing with the islands of Siberia, "
saws the bulletin. ga body of land en-
tirelv surrounded by water does not
Quite fit these islands. They are bodies
of land almost continually surrounded
bv ice. The only practical means OF
transportation for hunters and trap
pers between them and the mainland,
in fact, is sleds drawn by dog teams.
The New Siberia Islands, largest
north of Siberia, lying 50 miles off
shore, were discovered in 1870 because
hunter saw huge herd of deer
walking on the ice out of the northern
sea and had curiosity enough to trace
their tracks backward.
One must also put aside the idea
that only minerals are mined. Ivory
from the tusks of thousands of NAM
moths that persisted in former geo
logic times is dug by the ton from
the ground of the New Siberia group.
With the ivory are other mammoth
bones together with those of musk
oxen, other species OF OK, deer and
primitive horses. So numerous are
these deposits that one writer has said
that the whole soil seems to consist
OF bones"
"Fossilized trees also exist on the
New Siberia Islands, showing that in
the age of the mammoths trees grew
a, far north as the seventy-fourth
parallel of latitude. The northermost
trees in this part of the world now
grow some 400 miles farther south.
Meat $4,000 Years Old.
Rarely carcasses of mammoths
have been found in the ice cliffs of
these islands and the neighboring
mainland. and native hunters eat the
ancient meat-probably $4,000 years
old-without any apparent i'll effects.
The dogs devour the prehistoric food
with the same avidity that they gulp
down fresh-killed reindeer meat.
'Disregarding bits OF land close to
the Siberian shore, which may be con-
sidered practically a part of the main
land, the Arctic Islands north OF 81
IBERIA may be taken to mean the New
Siberia group, Nicholas Second Land,
north of the northermost point OF ST.
IBERIA. Wrangel Island near Boring
Strait. and a few scattered unimport-
ant islets northeast OF New Siberia
and east of Wrangel,
Linked With Tragedies.
"One cannot be too dogmatic about
Siberian Islands, however, for the dra--
matte discovery of Nicholas Second
Land. 10 times the size of Long Is
land and only 90 miles off shore, oc-
CURED as recently as October, 1918.
The Northeast Passage had been nav
igated through this 60-mile strait and
several other ships had sailed through
without the explorers gaining any idea
of the existence of the land. 1t is a
rugged, icy region, with evidence OF
volcanic origin.
Because Of the tragic deaths and
dramatic rescues that have taken place
on it in recent years Wrangel Island
is doubtless best known OF the Arctic
Islands north of Siberia. 1t is about
70 miles long by 20 wide and hes
little more than 100 miles off shore.
1t is also the nearest of the larger is
lands to Alaska and has therefore been
visited many times by American ex-
porers and whalers. 1t is believed to
have been first sighted by an Amer1-
can whaler, Long, in. 1867. A United
States naval officer, De Long, eXplor-
ed it in 1881, proving it to be an island
and not a continental mass, as had
been suggested
The Arctic Islands north of Sibe-
ria have no permanent inhabitants,
Foxes and other fur-bearing animals
live on them, and almost every season
hunters and trappers from the main
land visit them They cross by sledges
IN late spring, spend the short sum-
mer collecting furs and return south
as soon as the ice is thick enough. No
minerals of value are known to exist
on the islands, and, except as sources
OF fur and ivory, they have no pres
ent value.