INTR OD UCTION 2 1 



possibly proceeded from the Eskimo on the east coast 

 of Greenland. 



" From later inquiries,* however, it appeared that it 

 must have come from the coast of Alaska in the neio-h- 

 borhood of Bering Strait, as that is the only place 

 where ' throwing sticks ' of a similar form are used. It 

 was even ornamented with Chinese glass beads, exactly 

 similar to those which the Alaskan Eskimo obtain by 

 barter from Asiatic tribes, and use for the decoration 

 of their ' throwing sticks.' 



" We may, therefore, with confidence assert that this 

 piece of wood was carried from the west coast of Alaska 

 over to Greenland by a current the whole course of 

 which we do not know, but which may be assumed to 

 flow very near the North Pole, or at some place between 

 it and Franz Josef Land. 



" There are, moreover, still further proofs that such a 

 current exists. As is well known, no trees erow in 

 Greenland that can be used for makins: boats, sledses, 

 or other appliances. The driftwood that is carried 

 down by the polar current along the east coast of Green- 

 land and up the west coast is, therefore, essential to the 

 existence of the Greenland Eskimo. But whence does 

 this timber come t 



" Here our inquiries again carry us to lands on the 



* See on this point Dr. Y. Nielsen, in ForJiandlitiger t Vtdenskabssel- 

 skabet i CJiristiania. Meeting held June ii, 1886. 



