The Portland daily press., 1896-02-29
TWELVE PAGES.
SURELY MADE IN ALASKA.

the specimen drawn by himself | had
not the slightest difficulty in identifying
this with ons of Mason's types, namely.
that used in the KAYAK peninsula,
Norton sound and the Yukon delta. 1t
most closely resem bles specimen from
the Xayiak peninsula now in the Nation
al Museum. 1t was seen at once that
the resemblance between these two OBJ
Jeots was altogether too striking TO be the
result OF accident. l then wrote to DIR.
hlnk, stating that i'll my opinion the
Throwing stiok' was undoubtedly Alask-
an and probably from the Kavisk penin
sula. On receiving confirmation of his
previous views in regard to the origin of
the specimen, DR.. Rink published a
paper IN the 'Geografisk Tidskrift,' in
which he gives the history of the speoi-
men IN detail. This account adds con-
siderably to the authenticity of the find.
1T appears that DR.. Rink himself
found the throwing stick, which the
0reenlanders at once rceongized as differ
ent from any they had ever before seen,
among the driftwood collected at Gud-
thaap some years ago. This driftwood,
as is well-known, is brought round Cape
farewell from the east and carried up
the west coast of Greenland Quite by
accident, as he says, DR.. Rink preserved
the specimen until 1886, when the uniyer-
slty at Chrlstiana received a valuable Sc
lection OF ethnographioal specimens from
the Danish Enst Greenland expedition
under Holm and Garde. he then pre-
sented the specimen to the UNIVERSITY
apparently suppos;ng that it came from
tae samo region. On examination. how
eyer. it proved that it was different from
the East Greenland throwing sticks, as
well as from those from the west. The
Weli-known Norwegian traveller, Jakob-
sen, who has collected in Alaska, as we'll
as IN Greenland and Labrador, was
struck, Oh examining the collection,
with the resemblance of this specimen of
unknown origin to those he had seen in
Alaska. This gave rise to Nielsen's COM
munfcation to the 'Videnskabsselskab 3
In which he CONF pared the probable drift
OF this object to that of the Jeannette
relics, in confirma ton of Prof. Mohn's
theory Of a current running across close
TO the North Pole
| PROOF OF THE DRIFT.
1.-The points specially mentioned By
DR.. Rink as those IN which this specimen
differs from those used il Greenland.
namely, the pocket for the fore finger
are precisely those which indicate it's
Alaskan origin. Tho fact that it is in
laid with beads, though DR.. Rink lays
considerable stress on this, is probably
a mere accident and of no value in olassi-
fioation. though il appears to be true that
this style of ornamentation is far mora
common in Alaska than in the east. OF
more Importance is the shallow groove
along the back of the implement, appear
ing on both specimens compared. The
general resemblance in shape between the
two is especially striking.
1t seems to me unreasonable to doubt
that the implement in question was ac-
tually made in Alaska, not far from
Boring strait, and there seems to be no
way of accounting for it's presence ut
Godthaab. unless it really drifted all the
| way from Boring strait to the coast of
Greenland. What we actually know of
the currents in the Arctic ocean indicates
| the possibility of such drift. There ap-
pears to be more or less of ncrtheriv
current north of Boring strait, and the
drift Of the Jeanette itself indicates a
constant westerly movement in high
northern ATTITUDES.
CDR. Kinks suggestion that we know
nothing Of the people who undoubtedly
1nhabit the east coast of Greenland north
of latitude 6S. and that this Implement
may have been made by them, appears to
me to carry less weight than he supposes.
Mason has shown in the paper mentioned
above that this implement has developed
in certain distinct lines, which have IA
definite geographical distribution. The
p ecimen in question belongs to a highly
specialized type, widely different from
the equally specialized type found in
Greenland. Ii in any part Of east Green
land throwing stick was found resemb-
ling that used in the Mackenzie river
district there would be nothing surpris-
ing in it, for this implement is of an ex-
ceedlngly simple and generalized pat
tern, buy it is in the highest degree i'm
probable that specialization should result
in two forms identically the same in
regions so far apart.
OTHER NAMES USED.
"In the preceding remarks 1 have fol-
lowed the nomenclature of Prof. Mason
and most other American and English
writers in calling these implements
throwing sticks They are also called
throwing boards hand boards, or
} darling boards The objection has been
raised to these names that throwing
stick should mean stick to be thrown,
like those used by many savages, while
hand board is too indefinite, giving no
, indication of the use of the implement
con the drawing furnished me by DR..
Rink he has written the name 'harpoon
8 thrower.'
"This seems to me an entirely unob-
jectionable and very expressive name,
and think it's use in photographic work
, is much to be commended. -
The Selfish Bishop.
A story used to be told that Bishop
/ I.