ed with a vegetation which
indeed was exceedingly monotonous, but much more luxuriant than that of
Vaygats Island or Novaya Zemlya. The uniformity of the vegetation is
perhaps caused, in a considerable degree, by the uniform nature of the
terrain. There is no solid rock here. The ground everywhere consists of
sand and sandy clay, in which I could not find a stone so large as a
bullet or even as a pea, though I searched for a distance of several
kilometres along the strand-bank. Nor did the dredge bring up any stones
from the sea-bottom off the coast, a circumstance which, among other
things, is remarkable, because it appears to show that the strand-ice
from the Obi and Yenisej does not drift down to and melt in this part of
the Kara Sea. Nor do the sand beds contain any sub-fossil shells, as is
the case with the sand beds of the Yenisej _tundra_. 'Noah's wood' also
appears to be absent here. To judge from our observations at this place,
the peninsula between the Gulf of Obi and the Kara Sea thus differs very
essentially from the _tundra_ lying east of the Yenisej.

[Illustration: PLACE OF SACRIFICE ON YALMAL. After a drawing by A.N.
Lundstroem. ]

"We saw no inhabitants, but everywhere along the beach numerous
traces of men--some of them barefoot--of reindeer, dogs and Samoyed
sleighs, were visible. On the top of the strand-bank was found a
place of sacrifice, consisting of forty-five bears' skulls of
various ages placed in a heap, a large number of reindeer skulls,
the lower jaw of a walrus, &c. From most of the bears' skulls the
canine teeth were broken out, and the lower jaw was frequently
entirely wanting. Some of the bones were overgrown with moss and lay
sunk in the earth; others had, as the adhering flesh showed, been
placed there during the present year. In the middle of the heap of
bones stood four erect pieces of wood. Two consisted of sticks a
metre in length with notches cut in them, serving to bear up the
reindeer and bears' skulls, which were partly placed on the points
of the sticks or hung up by means of the notches, or spitted on the
sticks by four-cornered holes cut in the skulls. The two others,
which clearly were the proper idols of this place of sacrifice,
consisted of driftwood roots, on which some carvings had been made
to distinguish the eyes, mouth, and nose. The parts of the pieces of
wood, intended to represent the eyes and mouth, had recently been
besmeared with blood, and there still lay a