I9II-] STEVENSON— FORMATION OF COAL BEDS. 555 



That the amount of driftwood accumulated on shores has been 

 estimated in exaggerated style is amply evident from Brooks's^^ 

 observations. In the north and northwest part of Alaska from 

 Norton bay to the mouth of the Mackenzie river, the shore at one 

 time was abundantly supplied with driftwood. The Eskimos, who 

 have been using this wood for generations, are very economical in 

 the matter of fuel and, until the coming of the white man, the proba- 

 bilities are that the wood accumulated more rapidly than it was con- 

 sumed. This driftwood is brought down from the interior by the 

 larger rivers, whose banks are forested. The cutting of wood along 

 the banks of the Yukon has already diminished the contribution to 

 the northern Bering sea. The north Arctic coast, eastward from 

 Point Barrow, which is thinly populated by natives and rarely visited 

 by the white man, has some driftwood, but according to Franklin, 

 the quantity is unimportant along the coast visited by him ; the mate- 

 rial is brought down by the Mackenzie and is carried eastwardly by 

 a strong current. McClure found driftwood on the northeast coast 

 of Banks land, where it is often at a considerable distance above 

 sea level. Low** found that the prevailing winds and the force of 

 the waves have determined the accumulation of driftwood on the 

 shores of Hudson Bay. During great storms, the older, the lighter 

 portions of the mass are thrown to a considerable height above 

 mean tide. 



The driftwood deposits on the northern side of Spitzbergen, on 

 Jan May en and Iceland are mentioned in most of the current text- 

 books of geology. Some of them, such as the Suturbrander of Ice- 

 land and the deposit on the New Siberia islands are clearly not drift- 

 wood, at least not the driftwood under consideration, as they contain 

 fruits and tender portions of plants and belong to the Tertiary. As 

 to the others, of undoubted modern origin, the common conception 

 is simply misconception. The descriptions, in many cases, would 

 lead one to suppose that the mass is closely packed and almost con- 



"A. H. Brooks, "The Coal Resources of Alaska," Twenty-second Ann. 

 Rep. U. S. Geol. Survey, 1902, Part III., p. 570. 



"A. P. Low, Ann. Rep. Geo). Surv. Canada, N. S., Vol. III., 1889, p. 33 J. 



153 



