वेदों की प्राचीनता एवं काल-निर्णय / ओरायन (लोकमान्य बाल गंगाधर तिलक - खगोलीय वैदिक शोध)

40 THE ARCTIC HOME IN THE VEDAS.
is at present. Dr. Warren, in his Paradise Found, quotes a number
of authorities to show that within a comparatively recent geolo-
gical period a wide stretch of Arctic land, of which Novaia
Zemlia and Spitzbergen formed a part, had been submerged ;
and one of the conclusions he draws from these authorities is
that the present islands of the Arctic Ocean, such as the two
mentioned above, are simply mountain-tops still remaining above
the surface of the sea which has come in and covered up the
primeval continent to which they belonged. That an extensive
circum-polar continent existed in Miocene times seems to have been
conceded by all geologists, and, though we cannot predicate its
existence in its entirety during the Pleistocene period, yet
there are good reasons to hold that a different configuration of land
and water prevailed about the North Pole during the Inter-
Glacial period, and that, as observed by Prof. Geikie, the Palæo-
lithic man, along with other Quaternary animals, freely ranged
over the whole of the Arctic regions in those times. Even now
there is a considerable tract of land to the north of the Arctic
circle, in the old world, especially in Siberia, and there is evi-
dence to show that it once enjoyed a mild and temperate
climate. The depth of the Arctic Ocean to the north of Siberia
is, at present, less than a hundred fathoms, and if great geogra-
phical changes took place in the Pleistocene period, it is not
unlikely that this tract of land, which is now submerged, may
have been once above the level of the sea. In other words,
there are sufficient indications of the existence of a continent
round about the North Pole before the last Glacial period.
As regards climate, we have seen that during the Inter-
Glacial period there were cool summers and warm winters
even within the Arctic circle. Sir Robert Ball gives us a
good idea of the genial character of this climate by reducing
to figures the distribution of heat-units over summers and