1 9 14] Northwestern Denes ant) Northeastern Asiatics 143 



will proceed to see whether this mere possibility cannot be converted 

 into a probability, or even some kind of moral certainty. 



III. 



In the light of present geographical conditions, it seems almost 

 idle to try to prove the possibility of migrations from Asia to America. 

 Without going as far back as the time when geologists contend that 

 both continents were united, we see that they are to-day separated 

 only by the very slightest obstacle to intercourse, namely a sheet of 

 water barely thirty-five miles in width, which sometimes freezes over, 

 so that even white men are known to have crossed it on foot. 



We are furthermore aware that this narrow strait is dotted with 

 islands, which would become as many stepping-stones to him who 

 would recoil from the task of covering such a short distance in a single 

 effort. 



Nay, not only is the crossing of this strait possible, even for small 

 craft,^ but we know that it is commonly effected by both Asiatics and 

 native Americans. "The Tchuktchis . . . cross from the coast of Siberia 

 by the narrow part of Bering Straits and generally meet the Kareaks 

 and Malemutes in Port Clarence", writes the traveller Fr. Whymper, 

 who adds that ' ' intertribal commerce goes on to such an extent that cloth- 

 ing, worn hundreds of miles up the Yukon . . , is of Tchuktchi origin ".^ 



According to J. Bush "beaver are procured from the Tchuctchus, 

 who in turn get them from the natives on the east side of Behring's 

 Strait ".3 



Though emanating from an explorer who, like Whymper, was on 

 the spot, this statement is but an unconscious echo of that of Wrangell, 

 according to whom "le passage est si aise de cette partie du rivage 

 asiatique sur le continent americain que les Tchouktchis franchissent 

 chaque annee le detroit pour aller chercher en Amerique les pelleteries 

 qu'ils viennent vendre dans les villages de Siberie".^ 



These are the words of a navigator who observed these conditions 

 close on one hundred years ago. 



An eye-witness of a later day, Frederick Schwatka, likewise testifies 

 to commercial intercourse between the Asiatic and American tribes.^ 

 So does an earlier author, P. Dobell.*^ 



^ Sir George Simpson, "An Overland Journey round the World", Vol. II, pp. 201-202; 

 London, 1847. 



* "Travel and Adventure in the Territory of Alaska", p. 138; London, 1868. 



* "Reindeer, Dogs and Snow-Shoes", p. 308; New York, 1871. 



* Voyages, vol. I, p. 249. 



* "Along Alaska's Great River", p. 323; Saint Louis, 1893. 



* "Travels in Kamtchatka and Siberia", Vol. I, p. 144; London, 1830. 



