A popular history of the United States : from the first discovery of the western hemisphere by the Northmen, to the end of the first century of the union of the states ; preceded by a sketch of the prehistoric period and the age of the mound builders . ation of thecountry round about. What morenatural than that Governor Arnold,when advanced in life, should re-produce, as nearly as lie could, anedifice supposed to be a master-piece of architecture of its kind, andendeared to him by all the memoriesand associations of his early home ? ^ The Danish antiquaries adduce also the Dighton Rock, as it
A popular history of the United States : from the first discovery of the western hemisphere by the Northmen, to the end of the first century of the union of the states ; preceded by a sketch of the prehistoric period and the age of the mound builders . ation of thecountry round about. What morenatural than that Governor Arnold,when advanced in life, should re-produce, as nearly as lie could, anedifice supposed to be a master-piece of architecture of its kind, andendeared to him by all the memoriesand associations of his early home ? ^ The Danish antiquaries adduce also the Dighton Rock, as it is called,as an evidence of the visits of the Northmen to New Eng-land. This rock is on the bank of the Taunton River, in thetown of Berkeley, Mass., opposite Dighton. Upon it are carved rudehieroglyphics, which have been an object of curious interest for nearlytwo centuries. Various copies, differing much from each other, havebeen taken at different times during all that period, and some of themhave been sent to Europe for the consideration of learned characters have been assumed to be Phoenician, Scythian, Roman,and even Hebrew, until the Danish antiquaries pronounced them to 1 See Palfreys History of New England, p. 56, et Chesterton Mil DightonRock. SUPPOSED RELICS OF THE NORTHMEN. 61 be Runic. They profess to find the name of Thorfinn in the middleof the inscription, in certain rude characters, some of which are clearly-Roman letters ; other marks above are interpreted as signifying theRoman numerals, CXXXI., the number of Thorfinn Karlsefnes com-pany after the desertion of Thorhall and his companions; below is thefigure of an animal of some sort, — perhaps, if we may make a sug-gestion, the bull that frightened the Skraellings, — and a ship, whichone must be an antiquary to find; on the right are Gudrid and her sonSnorri, born in Vinland ; on the left Karlsefne himself, with a com-panion. These and other fanciful interpretations are held to be a co
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublishernewyo, bookyear1876
