22 FARTHEST NORTH 



other side of the Pole. I have myself had an opportu- 

 nity of examining large quantities of driftwood both on 

 the west coast and on the east coast of Greenland. I 

 have, moreover, found pieces drifting in the sea off the 

 east coast, and, like earlier travellers, have arrived at the 

 conclusion that much the greater part of it can only 

 have come from Siberia, while a smaller portion may 

 possibly have come from America. For amongst it are 

 to be found fir, Siberian larch, and other kinds of wood 

 peculiar to the north, which could scarcely have come 

 from any other quarter. Interesting in this respect are 

 the discoveries that have been made on the east coast 

 of Greenland by the second German Polar Expedition. 

 Out of twenty-five pieces of driftwood, seventeen were 

 Siberian larch, five Norwegian fir (probably Picca obo- 

 vata), two a kind of alder {Alims iiicana ?), and one a 

 poplar {PopJilus trenuila ? the common aspen), all of 

 which are trees found in Siberia. 



" By way of supplement to these observations on 

 the Greenland side, it may be mentioned that the Jcan- 

 nettc expedition frequently found Siberian driftwood 

 (fir and birch) between the fioes in the strong north- 

 erly current to the northward of the New Siberian Isl- 

 ands. 



" Fortunately for the Eskimo, such large quantities 

 of this driftwood come every year to the coasts of 

 Greenland that in my opinion one cannot but assume 

 that they are conveyed thither by a constantly flowing 



