Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/39

Rh that a few generations ago the sea reached the place now occupied by the wax; that the wax is not derived from the adjacent land; and finally, that although these considerations show only that the wax must have been deposited upon the beach from the ocean, and therefore give no light upon the question as to its nature, chemical tests show decisively that it is not ozokerite, but beeswax.

It is difficult to understand how anyone could deliberately summon the temerity requisite for calling into question the points established so thoroughly by Dr. Diller, and, indeed, it must have been because of an entire ignorance of his work that the subject was opened up again in 1903, once more by adherents of the ozokerite hypothesis. An analysis of the arguments presented by these people at this time shows that they are founded upon two main assertions, viz., that the amount of wax taken out and sold is by far greater than could have been carried by a ship of a hundred or two hundred years ago, and that the substance actually proves to be ozokerite by analysis. Now, the first of these assertions is unsustained by any proof whatsoever, while the second is fully met by the evidence of Merrill and Stokes. Yet it is interesting to follow out the proofs offered, as they were advanced honestly with the full belief that they established their case.

Naturally it is impossible to arrive at any very accurate estimate upon the total amount of wax contained in the Nehalem deposit, or obtained from it. The believers in the ozokerite idea make estimates running as high as hundreds of tons, it being asserted that one man recovered 17,000 pounds. The present writer, however, after due investigation, is unable to account for so much. It is hardly probable that the early Indian traffic, such as Henry mentions, could have been very extensive. The Indians themselves, it is likely, had but little use for the wax, and there is no known record of any considerable trade in this substance by the early whites. The first hint of any extensive traffic is contained in the unsubstantiated report referred to above that