k in _Mem. de l'Acad. de St. Petersbourg_, Ser. VII. T.
XXVII. No. 7, 1880. ]

[Footnote 231: The mean temperature of the different months is shown
in the following table:--

JAN. -48 deg. 9
FEB. -47 deg. 2
MARCH -33 deg. 9
APRIL -14 deg. 9
MAY -0 deg. 40
JUNE +13 deg. 4
JULY +15 deg. 4
AUG. +11 deg. 9
SEPT. +2 deg. 3
OCT. -13 deg. 9
NOV. -39 deg. 1
DEC. -45 deg. 7
Of the Year. -16 deg. 7 ]

[Footnote 232: Hedenstroem, _loc. cit._ p. 128. To find stranded
driftwood in an upright position is nothing uncommon. ]

[Footnote 233: Martin Sauer, _An account of a Geographical and
Astronomical Expedition the Northern parts of Russia by Commodore
Joseph Billings_, London, 1802, p. 105. The walrus does not occur in
the sea between the mouth of the Chatanga and Wrangel Land, and
large whales are never seen at the New Siberian Islands, but during
Hedenstroem's stay in these regions three narwhals were enclosed in
the ice near the shore at the mouth of the Yana (_Otrywki o
Sibiri_, p. 131). ]

[Footnote 234: Martin Sauer, _An account of a Geographical and
Astronomical Expedition to the Northern parts of Russia by Commodore
Joseph Billings_, London, 1802, p. 103. A. Ermann, _Reise um die
Erde_, Berlin, 1833-48, D. 1, B. 2, p. 258. Ermann's statement, that
the knowledge of the existence of these islands was concealed from
the government up to the year 1806, is clearly incorrect. ]

[Footnote 235: Of course the earth here at an inconsiderable depth
under the surface is constantly frozen, but I have nowhere seen such
alternating layers of earth and ice, crossed by veins of ice, as
Hedenstroem in his oft-quoted work (_Otrywki o Sibiri_, p. 119) says
he found at the sea-coast. Probably such a peculiar formation arises
only at places where the spring floods bring down thick layers of
mud, which cover the beds of ice formed during the winter and
protect them for thousands of years from melting. I shall have an
opportunity of returning to the interesting questions relating to
this point. ]

[Footnote 236: Since we discovered the Chukches also bury their dead
by laying them out on the _tundra_, we have begun to entertain
doubts whether the collection of bones delineated here was actually
a grave. Possibly these mounds were only the remains of fireplaces,
where the Chukches had used as fuel train-drenched b