Sharp County record., 1880-12-09

River, near Trenton, ana DelleFcu 10 nave
been formed by glacial action. From visit
to the locality with DR.. Abbott, | see 10 rea-
son to doubt the general conclusion he has
reached in regard to the existence of man in
glacial times on the Atlantic coast of North
America
The support given to DR.. AbbOtt's conclu-
sious BY Investigators stamps them as of high
interest, while his own arguments are entitled
to the same respectful consideration. Several
of lis observations are not easily set aside.
For instance, he says, "if the same age is as
cribed to these paleolithic implements aud the
ordinary Indian relics, y then, as already asked,
chow could the one series become imbeddcd,
often to great depths, and not representatives
Of any class Of weapons, domestic utensils and
ornaments" 1t would indeed, be singular
operation Of Nature that selected one class OF
relics Onlg for preservation. The conclusion
is, +" that in the essentially unmOdlhed DEBRIS
of the terminal mOraimc in central New Jersey
and in Others upon the surface (Which, how
ever, are in part only of more recent origin,)
it is shown that the occupancy OF this portion
of our continent by man extends back into the
history of our globe, in all probability to even
an earlier date than the great ice age; and that
the maximum severity of the climate did not
destroy him; and that subsequently he tenant
cd our scaCOast and rivcr-valleyS, until a
stronger and more warliie race drove him
from our shores"
1t is not the purpose of the writer, however,
to attempt to add ANYTHING to the argument,
especially as he is assured that the question
now seems to concern the probability OF man
having existed in America prior to the glacial
period. We, therefore, take the evidence as 1t
stands, leaving its Strengthening or overturn-
ing, as the event may prove, to the future,
aiming in this article to give fuller ilIustra-,
ton than has heretofore been attempted OF
the agreement of the theory with accepted his
tory; for, possibly, it may eventually appear
that the glacial man is more closely connected
with historic man than could have been eX-
pected.
Professor Marsh observes that "the evidence
as it stands to-day, although not conclusive,
seems to place the first appearance OF man in
this country in the PlioCene," adding that
" the best proofs of this are found upon the
Pacific cOast.n The proofs, however, are
little shadowy, consisting Of stray bone or
two, instead of stone axes and arrOW-headS;
though it is clearer that some of the first in
habitants whenever they came entered from
Asia by Behring Strait, the destruction Of the
mocene bridge, which once existed there, not
impeding their advance. 1t is unnecessary,
however, to suppose that the glacial man was
unable to find his way westward from central
Europe The notion that man in that remote
age could not navigate great seas is simply a
notion, and likewise it is notion that more
than ANYTHING else prevents the advance OF
scientific inquiry respecting the early colonl-
cation of America. Two men in a skif to-day
navigate the entire breadth Of the Atlantic,
but such a feat forms no new thing under the
sun. In the glacial age communication be-
tween Europe and America may have been
more easy than is now suspected, while large
portion Of the journey may have been made
over fields Of ice. The passage of the glacial
man from Europe possibly presented no great
er difficulties than the migration of the Esqul-
mauX from Labrador to Greenland But, how
ever man may have reached America, the the
ory that the Indian peoples sprang from any
glacial stock seems untenable. This, then,
neccssitatcs the inquiry respecting the subse'
quent history Of the primitive inhabitant; otn'
erwise, what became OF him!
That apeople corresponding in the main to
the supposed glacial man once dwelt as laI
south as New Jersey has been agreed by yarl
Gus writer's, without any reference to the con
tents of the glacial deposits, of whose exist
ence they did not dream. When, for instance
we turn to the Icelandic Sagas relating to
America, it becomes apparent that the Esqu
mauX once lourshed low down upon the AT
lantic coast.
At the present time historians agree, witt
great unanimity, that the continent o.
America was visited during the tcntl
and eleventh centuries by lceandcrS resi-
dent in Greenland. That country was
colonized by the Icelanders in the veal
9s5, and when Eric the Red entered Greenland
he found no inhabitants. The third Greenland
Narrative" however, says: They 1ounu
there, both east and west, ruins OF houses ant
pieces Of boats and stone-wOrk begun. From
which it is to be seen what kind OF people llrcL
in Vmand, and which the Greenlanders cal
Skrellings, and who have been there" Thus
at that early period the remains in Greenland
were identified as works peculiar to the people
of Vinland, region, according to the Sagas
living southward toward the forty-tirst paral
lei.
The account Of what the Icelanders saw III
Vinland is found in the narratives of Lei
and Others In 9S6 one Biarne, when sailing
for Greenland, was blown upon the American
coast and upOu his return carrie the report OF
the country to Greenland In the year 1000
Left Erickson resolved to visit the region seer
by Biarne, and, sailing southwark from Green
land, reached the place. The narrative says
" The country appeared to them OF so good q
kind that it would not be necessary for them
to gather fodder for the cattle in winter
There was no frost in winter, aud the grass
was was not much withered." The obseWa
tion that there was no frost was simply an eX
aggeration natural to an Icelander coming in
to a country with climate so unlike that tc
which he had been accustomed. Morton wrote
home TO England that coughs and colds were
u tkRO1ya in New England. Leil's narrative
saws nothing about any inhabitants; but II
1902, Thoryald, his brother, sailed to Slnlanc
and found some people at place a little to
the nOrthward OF Leif's resort. The Saga says
that one day, when opposite cape, they "saW
three specks upon the sand" and that, upon
examination, they found that these were
"three skin-bOats with three men under eacl
boat Cruelty attacking them Tor the PUN
der, the IcelanderS killed eight, While one man
escaped with his boat. They also saw sew
eraI eminences which they took to be hablta-
tionsn y Afterward, ,theyrested and fell asleep on
board their vessels, only to be awakened by the
natives, who had been notified by the man that
escaped and who had now come to avenge the
death of their comrades. When the alarm was
sounded, can innumerable multitude, IRON
the interior of the bay, came in skin-boats an0
laid themselves alongside" The Mortimer
at once put up their " war-screens" on the
gunwales and the Saga says: The Skr9llngs
Shot at them for while and then fled away as
fast as they could.n They did not retreat
however, before dealing Thorvald, the leader
of the expedition his death-wound, 1t being
given by an arrow which struck under his arm
Thorvaid was buried on the shore supposed
to be the coast of Massachusetts Bay This is
the first recorded collision between Europeans
and those whom we propose to call the de
scendants of the glacial man. 1t shows them
as strong and not wanting in the courage
that would fit men for the struggle with nat
ure during the great ice period that prevailed
in America.