THE SO-CALLED ^^JEANNETTE EELLCS” 
97 
west side of tlie peninsula of Lower California, formerly fre- 
quented by whalers, marine shells unquestionably of north 
European origin, Bnccinum nndatum especialhq which is not 
known in the Pacific at all, and I have also received Indo-Pacific 
species, as well as cocoanut shells, collected by John Murdoch, 
from the shores of the Arctic ocean, north of Bering strait. That 
the drift of the Jeannette was due to the i)revalent winds is be- 
yond question, as already shown by Melville, and as may be 
worked out by anybody from the data. That, if continued, it 
would have passed across the Pole, as argued by Nansen, is a 
pure assumption, though a veiy enticing one. Certainly no one 
interested in arctic work but must most heartily wish that that 
courageous explorer may succeed in proving his hypothesis and 
return in safety to claim the laurels his success would earn. 
In regard to the second point, that of the origin of the so-called 
relics, if regarded as fictitious, I have already stated my conclu- 
sion that the story of the hoax seems sufficient to account for 
tliem. To Ije perfect!}’’ impartial, however, one must admit that 
the currents about southwest Greenland are such that objects set 
adrift on the ice from any great distance to the northward of 
Julianehaab would usually be set over to the westward rather 
than in shore, although tliis general rule is subject to exceptions, 
due to strong westerly winds. This fact alone I suspect was suf- 
ficient to satisfy Nansen, whose hypothesis was already framed ; 
ljut it must be remembered that the Greenland current does not 
round cape Farewell with equal strength at all seasons of the 
year; that the advent of the relief expedition was excei)tionally 
early ; the inllux into Baffin’s bay had not l)egun,and that along 
such a coast as that of Greenland eddies and reverse currents 
cannot fail to occur. W'hile not without weight, I cannot assign 
to Nansen’s objection sufficient weight to overcome the other in- 
dications, which f(jr me, at least, lead to the conclusion that the 
so-called Jeannette relics have not l)een shown to have any certain 
connection with the Jeannette expedition. Furthermore, there 
is no certainty that tlie ,\laskan throwing-stick was l»rought to 
the coast of Greenland Ijy oceanic currents, and even if it was, 
the time occupied in the transit and the route are alike abso- 
lutely unknown, so that speculations as to a drift across the 
region of the I’ole receive from this incident no ))ositive con- 
tirmation. 
Ailmiral Sir E. Inglefield, the distinguished Arctic traveler, at 
the meeting of the Koval ( !eogra|)hical Society called to discuss 
