OCR Text |
Show 98 SIBERIAN MAMMOTHS. to ex t reme1 y Severe Winters · When these first occurred at distant intervals, the drift snow would fill the vall~ys, and herds of herbivorous quadrupeds would be surprised and buried in a frozen mass, as often happens to cattl7 and human b em· gs, ove rwhelmed ' in the Alpine valleys o~lfl Sdw itz.e hrl an. d, by ava1 a nc 11e S . When valleys have become l~ e Wit Ic.e , as those of Spitzbergen, the contraction of the mass causes mnu .. mera.ble deep rents, such as are seen in the mer de glace .on M t l~lanc. These deep crevices usually become filled w1th 1 on snow but sometimes a thin covering is drifted across the oose , . . · · h mouth of the chasm, capable of sustammg a certam welg t, Such treacherous bridges are liable to gi;e. way when he.avy animals are crossing, which are then preCipitated at once mto the body of a glacier, which slowly descends to the sea, and becomes a floating iceberg *. As bears, foxes, and deer now abound in Spitzbergen, we may confidently assu~e that the imbedding of animal remains in the glaciers of that Island must be an event of almost annual occurrence t. The conversion of drift snow into permanent glaciers and icebergs, when it hap• pens to become covered over with alluvial matter, transport~ by torrents and floods, is by no means a rare phenomen.on m the arctic regions t. During a series of milder seasons mter- "' See Dr. Latta's account of his escape, when the covering of a crevice in a glacier of Spitzbergen gave way with him as he passed. Ed. New Phil, Journ. No. v. p. 95. June, 1827. t Dr. Richardson tells me, that in North America, about lat. 65°, he found ~he carcase of a deer, which had fallen into a fissure in a rock. It had become buned in snow, and the flesh, after the animal had been buried three months, ha~ only become slightly putrescent. In the innumerable fissures, traver~ing a shrpery glacier, these accidents must be far more frequent, so often as herb1vorous ammals pass over them in their migrations, or when they hastily cross them when pursued by beasts of prey. t Along the coast, in particular, E. and W. of the Mackenzie ri~er, wh~n the sen is frozen over, the drift snow from the Janel forms a talus abuttmg agamst a perpendicular cliff. On the melting of the snow, torrents rush do,~n from the land, charged with gravel and soil, and, falling over the edge of the ~hfF, c~ver the snow, which is often of considerable depth, with alluvium. Water, 1f any ~tr~tion takes place, is frozen before it penetrates to the bottom of the mass, which IS at last consolidated into a compact iceberg, protected from the heat of the sun, by a covering of alluvium, on which vegetation often flourishes. I am indeb~ed ~0 Dr. Richardson for this information, who has seen permanent glaciers, formmg 1? this manner, in districts of North America now inhabited by many Im:ge he~b1 vorous animals. The same process must evidently t.ake place under r1ver cllifs, as well as along the sea-shore. SIBERIAN MAMMOTHS. 99 vening between the severe winters, the mammoths may have recovered their numbers, and the rhinoceroses may have multiplied again, so that the repetition of such catastrophes may J1ave been indefinite. The increasing cold, and greater frequency of inclement winters, would at last thin their numbers, and their final extirpation would be consummated by the rapid augmentation of other herbivorous quadrupeds, more fitted for the new climate. That the greater part of the elephants lived in Siberia after it had become subject to intense cold, is confirmed, among other reasons, by the state of the ivory, which has been so largely exported in commerce. Its perfect preservation indicates, that from the period when the individuals died, their remains were either buried in a frozen soil, or at least were not exposed to decay in a warm atmosphere. The same conclusion may be deduced from the clothing of the mammoth, of which the entire carcase was discovered by Mr. Adams on the shores of the frozen ocean, near the mouth of the river Lena, inclosed in a mass of ice. The skin of that individual was covered with long hair and with thick wool, about an inch in length. Bishop Heber informs us, that along the lower range of the Himalaya mountains, in the north-eastern borders of the Delhi territory, between lat. ~9° and 30°, he saw an Indian elephant covered with shaggy hair. In that region, where, within a short space, a nearly tropical, and a cold climate meet, dogs and horses become covered, in the course of a winter or two, with shaggy hair, and many other species become, in as short a time, clothed with the same fine short shawl-wool, which distinguishes the indigenous species of the country. Lions, tigers, hyrenas, are there found with elks, chamois, and other species of genera usually abundant in colder latitudes >'If.. If we pass from the consideration of these more modern deposits, whether of marine or continental origin, in which existing species are intermixed with the extinct, to strata of somewhat higher antiquity, (older tertiary strata, Calcaire Grossier, London clay, fresh-water formations of Paris and Isle of Wight, &c.,) we can only reason from analogy, since the species, • Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces of India, vol. ii. pp. 166-219. . H2 |