DR. NANSEN'S "THROWING STICK." 173 



DR. NANSEN'S "THROWING STICK." 



By JOHN MURDOCH. 



THE report that reached us last February to the effect that Dr. 

 Nansen's adventurous expedition had actually succeeded in 

 reaching the pole, naturally set everybody to reviewing the rea- 

 sons which led him to adopt his peculiar plan. Among the facts 

 which led him to believe that there was a steady current flowing 

 westward across the pole, there has been frequent mention of an 

 Alaskan throwing stick picked up on the southwest coast of 

 Greenland. 



Many have doubtless wished to know what a " throwing stick " 

 is, and how it could be thought to give such conclusive evidence 

 of a drift from western America to Greenland. As I had a hand 

 in collecting and working out the evidence that made this little 

 piece of wood so valuable, I propose to try and answer these two 

 questions. 



In the first place, a * throwing stick," " throwing board," or 

 " spear thrower," as it is sometimes called, is a contrivance for 

 casting a javelin or harpoon, which is employed by various sav- 

 age races, such as the Australians, some South American tribes, 

 and especially by the Eskimos, among whom its use is almost 

 universal. Roughly speaking, it is a narrow grooved board a 

 foot or so long, with one end cut into a handle and the other pro- 

 vided with a stud or spur for the butt of the spear to rest against. 

 It is used thus : Grasping the handle as he would a sword, the 

 man fits the shaft of the spear into the groove, with the butt rest- 

 ing against the stud, steadying the spear with the finger. Then, 

 extending his arm and bending back his hand till the spear lies 

 horizontal, he aims at the mark and propels the weapon by 

 a quick forward jerk of the stick. In this way I have seen 

 the Eskimo boys casting their forked javelins at wounded 

 waterfowl. 



There is a very large number of Eskimo throwing sticks in the 

 National Museum at Washington, collected from all the different 

 branches of the race. These have been very carefully studied by 

 Prof. Otis T. Mason, one of the curators of the museum, and he has 

 found that these implements differ greatly from each other in 

 their details, while all are made on the same general plan. For 

 instance, one kind will have a plain handle, while another will 

 have projecting pegs, or holes or sockets, to give a firmer hold for 

 the fingers, and so on. 



Moreover, he has shown that each division of the Eskimo race 

 has its own pattern of throwing stick, so that, with the help of 

 his illustrations, one can tell, on seeing a throwing stick, whether 



