Evening star., 1896-02-22

land IS strong. yet there is a possibility of
its having appeared there in another way.
when the whalers are rounding up a
voyage in the North Pacific ocean, the arctic
above Alaska said Mr.. Elliott, "they
usually pick up great many curios for
their folks at home, In the way of native
triEkets, specimens of natural history, ETC.,
and carry them back to New Bedford, New
London or anywhere they return. as the
case may be. Such "a stick as this might
have been dropped from whale ship off the
Atlantic coast on its return voyage from
Alaska. and in due course Of drifting reach
Greenland. but on the whole. the steady
drift of Siberian timber to the east coast
Of Greenland. and thence up around on to
It's west shore. makes the drift trip of this
throwing stick most likely, as Nansen and
others describe it,
The Stick Identified.
Perhaps the most interesting account,
and the most complete yet published in re-
gard to the throwing stick appears in the
American Anthropologist. published at
Washington, for July, 1890. This was three
years before Nansen drew the attention of
the scientific world sharply to the drift
theory. MIR. John Murdoch there gives n
full account of the throwing-stick proof.
His article follows:
"Some time ago the Norwegian Magazine
Naturen published a notice of the meeting
of the "Vidensk absselskab'' at Christiania
on Jun II, 1886. In this notice 1t was
stated that ~ Nielsen Nhe curator of the
Univ ersity Museum) exhibited a throwing
stick for harpoon. found among driftwood
at Godthaab; it is of form unknown in
Greenland. but agrees completely with the
throwing stick used in Alaska 1t has there
fore probably made the same journey as the
relics of the Jeanette expedition found at
Julianehaab.'
"It immedia tely occurred to me that with
the extensive collections at our disposal in
the National Museum, In connection with
the observations published by Prof. Mason,
1t would be easy to arrive at an almost GER
tain conclusion about the specimen in queS-
ton. / therefore wrote at once to DIR. Rink
in Chrlstiania. who I know would be inter-
ested III any matter concerning the Eski-
mos, and who was probably present at the
meeting OF June II making further Inquiries
about the specimen. asking especially for a
figure of the throwing stick if one could be
procured.
Surely Made in Alaska.
with his usual promptness and courtesy
DIR. Rink at once responded by sending mo
carefully made outline sketch of the speci-
men drawn by himself. l had not the
slightest difficulty in identifying this with
one of Mason's types, namely, that used in
the kaviak peninsula, Norton sound and
the Yukon delta. 1t most closely resem-
bles a specimen from the Kaviak pennsul
now in the National Museum It was seen
at once that the resemblance between these
two objects was altogether too striking to
be the result Of accident 1 then wrote to
DR.. Rink stating that in my opinion the
throwing stick was undoubtedly Alaskan
and probably from the Kaviak peninsula.
On receiving confirmation of his previous
views IN regard to the origin Of the speci-
men, DR.. Rink published a paper in the
'Geografisk Tidskrift,' in which he gives the
history OF the specimen in detail. This ac-
count adds considerably to the authenticity
of the find 5f
1T appears that Dr.! Rink himself found
the throwing stick, which the Greenlanders
at once recognized as different from any
they had ever before seen, among the drift
wood collected at Godthaab 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 pre-
served the specimen until 1886. when the
university at Christiania received a valu-
able selection of ethnographical specimens
from the Danish East Greenland expedi-
ton under Holm and Garde. He then pre-
sented the specimen to the university, ap-
parently sppposing that 1t came from the
same region. On examination, however, it
proved that 1t was different from the East
Greenland throwing sticks, as we'll as from
tnose from the west; The well-known Nor
Wegian tray eler, Jakobsen, who has collect
ed in Alaska, as well as in Greenland and
Labrador, was struck, on 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 communication to the sViden-
skabsselskab, In which he compared the
probable drift of this object to that of the
Jeannette relics, in confirmation Of Prof.
Mohns theory Of current running across
close to the North Pole.
Proof Of the Drift.
The points specially mentioned by DR..
Rink as those in which this specimen DIFF
fers from those used in Greenland, name
ly. the pocket for the forefinger and the
peg for one Of the other fingers ara nre-
cisely those which indicate it's Alaskan
origin. The fact that it is inlald with
beads. though DR.. Rink lays considerable