NA TURE 



121 



THURSDAY, APRIL i, 1909. 



.-1L.15A'.1. 

 Alaska, ein Bcitrag rAir Geschichtc nordischet 

 Kolonisation. By Prof. H. Erdmann. Pp. xv +223 ; 

 with 68 figures and a map. (Berlin : Dietrich 

 Reimer [Ernst Vohsen] , 1909.) Price 8 marks. 



iX this book Prof. Erdmann has prepared for the 

 German public a concise account of the opening 

 up of Alaska and its present condition. It is a story 

 rich in interest to the student either of earth-lore or 

 of sociology, and the theme arouses manifold reflec- 

 tions. What would happen, one wonders, if gold, or 

 any other such commodity precious in the market, 

 should be discovered in quantity in some still more 

 inaccessible corner of the world — say, in north-east 

 Greenland, or among the islands of the Parn,- archi- 

 pelago, or on the Antarctic continent? Certain it is 

 that no region where wealth may be easily gained 

 has yet proved inaccessible to the adventurous throng. 

 Such exploration has a purpose that is understood of 

 every man, and has every man's support. 



While the story of Alaska has the saine old treasure- 

 seeking' plot that has served us for generations, we 

 have never before had it in an Arctic setting. When 

 Time has rounded off the saga, we shall find it to 

 the full as romantic as any. Moreover, the circum- 

 stances of rush to the Yukon basin in 1896-7 are 

 fraught with encouragement to those who have faith 

 in the qualities of modern man. That tens of 

 thousands of persons, without organisation and 

 each on his own initiative, should, on the rumour 

 of gold, have flung themselves into a distant and 

 well-nigh resourceless wilderness of which the best 

 informed among them had but little knowledge and 

 the majority none at all; that they should have 

 managed, somehow, either to establish and main- 

 tain themselves in the land or to make good their 

 retreat without collective disaster; and that, from 

 the self-interest of the units alone, there should have 

 been evolved a system of transport and commissariat 

 to meet their needs under conditions that had never 

 before been faced — these things, surely, betoken the 

 advance of individual and social powers in the race 

 to a stage unattained in previous time. 



It is not, however, from any contemplative aspect 

 of this kind that Prof. Erdmann views his subject. 

 His purpose throughout is practical and business-like, 

 occasionally even political. One of his main objects is 

 to demonstrate to his countrymen how valuable the 

 resources of a northern land may be ; how preferable 

 to a tropical colony; and how profitable to the 

 United States the purchase of Alaska from the 

 Russians in 1867 has proved :— matters to be remem- 

 bered should Germany have the opportunity to acquire 

 a northern territory— Greenland, for example (p. 165). 

 His journey through Alaska, made in 1906, was with 

 the support of the Prussian " Kultusminister "; there- 

 fore it is perhaps essential that he should thus show- 

 its national utility. 



With the advantage of his previous knowledge of 

 the goldfields of Siberia and the Urals, the author 

 NO. 2057, ^'Oh. 80] 



was well qualified for the study of -Maskan mining 

 conditions, and his book contains a clear description 

 of the different modes of occurrence and different 

 methods of winning the precious metal. The scien- 

 tific explorations of the Canadian and U.S. Geo- 

 logical Surveys have made us acquainted with the 

 main outlines of the geology and geography of the 

 country, and are the basis of a voluminous literature 

 which has recently been well summarised and cata- 

 logued in official publications of the last-mentioned 

 survey. To this literature Prof. Erdmann acknow- 

 ledges his indebtedness ; and it is in the spirit of an 

 observer of the known, not as an explorer of the 

 unknown, that his book is written. While containing 

 little that is scientifically new, it appeals to us as the 

 well-written record of the impressions and experiences 

 of a scientific traveller with an especially keen 

 interest in the social and economic conditions of the 

 new land. His outward journey followed the usual 

 coast route from Seattle to Skagway; thence across 

 the mountains by railway to the Upper Yukon and 

 down the river to Dawson City. Resuming his river 

 trip, he disembarked again at Circle City, in U.S. 

 territory, and crossed the country westward by trail to 

 Fairbanks, the centre of the nev^ goldfield on the 

 Tanana river. From Fairbanks he availed himself 

 of the steamboat service, which brought him down 

 the Tanana to the Yukon and thence to the coast, 

 with only such minor adventures and discomforts by 

 the way as are common incidents on new lines of 

 traffic. On the coast at Nome he had opportunity 

 to study the extensive gold workings in the beach 

 deposits, after which he took ship and returned by 

 the outer or ocean route to Seattle. 



Like many another observer, he was shocked with 

 the selfish and wilful destructiveness of the average 

 gold-seeker, who, for the very smallest ternporary 

 advantage, has no scruple in burning down the thin 

 but invaluable timber, thus perhaps permanently 

 laying waste the land. How few men indeed are 

 there as yet who have sufficient social conscience to 

 be turned loose in the world untrammelled by enforce- 

 able laws ! Symbolic of much was the fate of the 

 head of a mammoth, regretfully mentioned by Prof. 

 Erdmann (p. 129), that dared to interpose itself 

 between "an American citizen and pay-dirt. 



On the other hand, the author is duly irnpressed 

 with the vigour and adaptability of the colonists 

 in all circumstances, and by their hardy spirit 

 in the face of disaster, as exemplified in the rapid 

 rebuilding of Fairbanks after its destruction by fire 

 (p. 119). The conditions of labour are frequently 

 discussed in the course of the book, with notes on 

 the rate of pay, cost and mode of living, and methods 

 of trade. The industries other than mining are 

 touched upon, including the seal-hunting, salmon 

 fisheries, attempts at agriculture, &c. ; and the varied 

 modes of transport in summer and winter are 

 described. The author has a good eye for country, 

 and depicts vividly and tersely its aspect along the 

 routes traversed. He also gives some account of the 

 aborigines — Indian and Eskimos— and of the in- 

 fluence of the colonists upon them. Quite shrewd 



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