| Fig. 202.—Archipelago of New Siberia. |
| Scale 1 : 4,120,000. |
|
 6 Miles.
|
A few of the islands off the neighbouring coast have been known from time immemorial to the natives, and by them pointed out to the early Russian explorers. Such are the "Bear Islands," north of the Kolîma estuary, occupied during the last century by numerous winter fishing huts. The so-called "Four Pillars," one of this group, forms a conspicuous landmark with its four detached basalt columns, almost as regular as if they had been carved by the hand of man. The sailors of the Nordenskjöld expedition took them for lighthouses erected by the Russian Government for the guidance of explorers in the polar waters. Another of the Bear Islands abounds in the remains of mammoths to such an extent that when seen from the southern mainland it seemed composed entirely of the tusks of these pachydermata. Some of the larger polar islands said to have been discovered in the last century, or even more recently, would also seem to have been visited by the natives. Thus the so-called "Near" or "First" Island of the Lyakhov Archipelago (New Siberia) cannot have been completely unknown, as the magnificent basalt columns forming the Kiselyak headland and Mount Keptagai, several hundred yards high, are only 45 miles from Cape Svyatoi, and are consequently, in clear weather, always visible to the piercing gaze of the Tunguses and Yukaghirs. The wild reindeer, as well as the white bear and other animals, including even the smaller rodents, visit it across the ice from the mainland, and the hunters had only to follow in their wake to discover "Near Island." From this point to "Second Island" the passage is also very easy; but the "Third," or Kotyelnîy Ostrov, besides several others lying farther west, must have remained long unknown, although in one of them a Russian grave was discovered in 1811. Hedenström
