THE ESKIMOS: THEIR ORIGIN 29 



go to prove the existence of cousinship between the 

 Eskimos and some people who live in parts of the 

 earth very widely separated from them. This 

 is the throwing-stick, which, although most useful 

 and ingenious, seems to be known only in two 

 other countries. It is practically identical with the 

 womera of the aborigines of Australia, and it is 

 also said to be known to some tribes on the banks 

 of the Amazon. It is probably safer, then, to 

 assume that the mere possession of a weapon really 

 proves nothing. This throwing-stick is a device 

 for hurling a dart with far greater force than could 

 be brought into play by the unaided arm. In 

 fact, it practically lengthens a man's arm, and so 

 gives him a vast amount of artificial leverage. It is 

 eighteen or twenty inches in length, fitted with a 

 pivot or loose hinge at one end upon which the 

 detachable dart can work freely. It has a thumb- 

 hole and finger-grooves so that it can be firmly 

 grasped in the right hand. It is used both for 

 harpoons and bird darts. 



On the whole, the weight of argument seems to 

 be against an American origin for the Eskimos, and 

 in favour of an Asiatic one. They are closely allied 

 with the inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands, and so 

 perhaps Keith Johnson is right when he believes 

 that they crossed from their own continent to 

 America by the "natural bridge, or rather stepping- 

 stones," which these islands form. 



