Page 247 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

34 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME

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 configu"
ration of land and water prevailed about the North Pole during
the Inter-Glacial period, and that as observed by Prof. Geikie
the Palreolithic 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
evidence to show that it once enjoyed a mild and temperate cli-
mate. The depth of the Arctic Ocean to the north of Siberia is at
present, less than a hundred fathoms, and if great geographical
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-Gla-
cial 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 winters. A longer
summer, with 229 heat-units spread over it, and a shorter
winter of 136 heat-units, would naturally produce a climate,
which according to Hershel, would be ' an approach to perpetual
spring. ' If the Palreolithic man, therefore, lived in these regions
during the Inter-Glacial period, he must have found it very plea-
sant, in spite of the fact that the sun went below his horizon
for a number of days in a year according to the latitude of the
place. The present inclement climate of the Arctic regions dates
from the Post-Glacial period, and we must leave it out of con-
sideration in dealing with earlier ages.
But supposing that an Arctic continent, with an equable
and pleasant climate, existed during the Inter-Glacial period,
and that the Palreolithic man ranged freely over it, it does not
follow that the ancestors of the Aryan race lived in the Arctic
regions during those days, though it may render such a: hypothesis