New Orleans Republican., 1877-04-07

ibSOy they sent out an expedition tn explore
the country and discovered the grave of q
man with fine yellow, hair and in the
grave Was piece Of wood "three-Quarters of
yard long, finely carved and painted, with
three tines or breaches on the top, like
crown. Also, between the mats, We
found bowls, trays and Dishes" Now,
this mode of burial with mats, boards
and domestic utensils is precisely that
of the old Sesndinsvians. Fine yell
low hair was as distinctly q mark of their
race as waa the coarse black hair of the In
dians. But the piece of wood ''csrved and
painted, with three tines or breaches on the
top like crown" is the exact description
of this Runic staff lrymstOckeI, which ia still
in use among the Danes and Norwegians.
These facts seem to show that the person
there buried was a N0rseman, more espe-
cially as the Icelandic account of Thor
wald's voyage states that in 1904 they had
disastrous battle with the natives in that
neighbOrhoOd, in which ThOrwald himself
was mortally wounded
There lie, however, another corroborative
fact, which is quite as interesting, As before
stated, Thorfna and his brother Left both
established themselves on Mount Hope Bay,
at or near Fall River. Ia 1884 there was
discovered at Fall River the skeleton of
man, on whose breast was . bronze breast
plate, and below this q curious bronze belt;
in the grave we're also some arrow-heade of
bronze, attached to the arrow in way
quite different from that in use among our
Indians. The famous Swedish chemist
BeFzelIus analyzed piece of this breast
plate and found that in composition it cor
responded with the five metals used in
making bronze in the tenth century in the
North of Europe; while in style, also, the
| Fall River breastplate cOrrespOnded with
the ancient Northern breastplates.
From these facts it would seem to be we'll
| established that the Dighton Rock was q
memorial monument of the Norsemen of
Iceland, set up to commemorate their dis
covery of New England and its attempted
settlement of Elk centuries before the land
| ing of the Pilgrims.
Yet there are those who see only occasion
! for sport in this recital. The New York
| Times, for instance, under the caption of
'.The Boston Archaeological" thus pictures
| the fun of the thing.
The trophies of Sehliemann disturb the
sleep of the New England antiQuarians. A
wild desire TO go somewhere and dig up
| something is at present characteristic of
every antiquarian, but the New England
lover of the antique is true to his prOtec-
ZIONIST prejudices and prefers to dig at
home rather than abroad. 1t is the opinion
of leading BOstOnians that the pauper anti
quities Of despotio Europe must not be per-
mitted to flood the market and drive out
American antiquities, and that true patriot
lem demands the exhumati0n of valuable
archaeological rellos on this side of the
Atlantic. Whereupon the BostOnians are
now engaged in discussing the propriety Of
Immediately digging up set OF choice an
tiquities, such as the Newport Mill and the
DightOn Rock, and thus showing the world
that New England can hold her own in
respect to archaeology with either Greece OI
TroRs.
The so called Dighton Rock is q stone in
the Taunton river covered with q quantity
of well defined scratches, which local an
tiquarians, who are interested in the hote
business, call an inscription. This alleged
inscription is absolutely undecipherable
and is hence said to be the work of early
Morse explorers, who were deficient in edu
cation and consequently wrote very
illegibiy. If il is really q relic of tbt
Norsemen, it is by far the oldest wOrl
of human hands to be found in New
: England. The dates assigned to it by riva
, annquarians differ to some extent, but al
agree that it is even older than Mr.. Adams
and that it was in existence before the frs
voyage of Christopher Columbus. Mr.. OIL
Bull, the eminent viOlinist, is so fully cor
WINGED that the inscription was written, q
an advertisement, by an eminent Morse fid
dler, that some time ago he induced
learned Danish society to buy 1t, rock an
| all, and had it nDt been for the noble COZ
3
5 the Danes to relinquish their purchase, tn
. | inscription would now be in Copenhagen
and the learned Danish society hOtly qual
reling over its meaning.
f The other day the Bostonian archBolC
= gists, including Governor RIoe and prom
: nent manufacturer of sewing machines
+ | held meeting and discussed the DightO
! Rock with degree of enthusiasm seldor
: displayed since Mr.. Piekwick discOvere
his ancisnt inscription at Ipswich. On
8 learned areb9Ologist proved that the il
: scriptiOn was of Morse origin, inasmuCh a
4 several antiquarians in Denmark and i
8 ! England, who have never seen it, are il
t clined to believe that it must have bee
= made either by the NOrsemen or by som
: other person or persons unknown. II
{ also urged that the man who made til
: inscriptions might possibly have been ealle
2 | Eric, or that all events some Othe
Norseman may have possessed that nam,
l and that hence statue of the hypothetics
. Eric ought to be erected at once. Anothe
f arohBologist asserted that the Dighto
| Rock was the only inscribed rock in Ne
f England, and that this fact clearly demon
' strated that tbs NOrsemen we're the fri
: human beings who ever landed on tn
9 continent. Having thus settled the que
q tion of the true nature of the marks on th
l. DightOn Rock, the learned areh9ologisi
}, were in glow of happiness and enthusiast
l. l anu WOuIu uOuubtobS nave JEOO66uGu TO ~
i point committee to solicit subscriptions
y New York and Philadelphia for none
wherewith to erect statue to Eric had NJ
j. q prOfane and skeptical person, who wi
: unfortunately present, rose upand indulge
Q in remarks which, like the colOEed minister
u sermon sgainst chicken stealing, cast
gloom over the meeting.
o This Questionable person began by boil
t ly denying that the inscription in questiC
o was the only one in New England. He a
n serted that not only were there several sue
y inscriptions within twenty miles of Dighto
Q but that quantities of them were to be four
J. in Name, Vermont, New York and Pen
9 sylvanis. Furthermore, he claimed thi
It these incriptions were the work of Indian
9 and that they probably commemorate
d scalping expeditions against the Pilgri
o fathers, or ether barbarie events of co
}, temporsneous aboriginal interest FINAL
n he insisted that there was net shadow
e evidence connecting the Eorsemen with Il
o Dighton Rock, and was evidently incline
% to think that Norsemen who could not wri
, their own language would never have beG
% guilty of the folly of making unintelligib
D. scratches in order to appal the Indians wi
q pretense of vast literary skill.
q In all probability the depressed arcb3ol
l. gists wOuld have dispersed in silence, al
p mOurned in private over the destruction
# their antiquarian hopes, had not Mr..
g Bull dropped his VIOLIN and courageous
j. rushed to the defense of the Norsemen.
70 exhibited to the unbelievimg scoffer pho
n graph of the Dighton inscription and s0lem
a. " asked him if he knew what it NEAR
le The seoffer calmly replied that he did nj
O. and was thereupon crushed by being q
Q, vissd not to erifioise those who did. Ini
W much as no human being has ever been at
g to translate the inscription, the bOldness
is hIr. Bulls retOrt was really sublime, aud
ID amazsment. The arehaologists thereup
"a seizad the oDDortunitv to adiouru and