The Portland daily press., 1895-08-17
SECRET OF DIGHT0N ROCK.
A New Attempt to Solve 1t.
Antiquarian Speculations About its In
scription.

Antiquarian Speculations About its In
| scription.
Rhode Island Letter in New York Sun
The Sun recently told how DR.. William
G. Garfield of Hopeworth is endeavoring
to secure the translation of the alleged
inscription on Northmen' S Rock at Mount
Hope by submitting sketches of it to anti
quarians in Washington and in Denmark
In consequence of the story in the Sun,
DR.. Garfield has received many inquiries
and suggestions upon the matter, and bas
also been asked to include sketches of the
| Dighton Writing rock inscription in his
work. He has concluded to do so, and
has just visited the rock to ascertain the
best way of obtaining sketches or prints
of the alleged inscription on it.
The DightonHrock is on the east bank of
the Taunton river, about Is miles north of
here 1t is of fine grained gray granite,
deeply scanned, and lies few feet above
| the present low-water mark, being partly
covered at every tide. 1t is II feet long
and five feet high, and it's weight is about
nine tons. The rock faces toward the
ancient village of Dighton, across the
river, and the alleged writing on it is as
clear-cut to-day as when the white man
discovered it. What is called the inscrip-
| tion looks at a little distance not unlike
| gray embroidery worked on brown velvet.
| The channels OF the so-called letters or
marks are from one half to there-quarters
of an inch in width, and nearly one-eighth
of an inch in depth. The first published
/ an wiz 0f "a do he
Antiquitates Americana in 1880. but for
$50 years the source of the marking has
been matter Of study and speculation
among learned men, The marking is
much more elaborate and in much better
| state of preservation than that on the
| Northmen's s rock.
| In his researches regarding Dighton
rock, DR. Garfield finds that Rev. DE- Ez-
IA Stiles, correspondent and friend Of
| Benjamin Franklin, made one of the ear
lest known copies of the marking on the
rock. DR. LStiles was a Congregational
preacher at Newport at the time, 1875. He
corresponded with a French scholar con-
cerning the rock, who agreed with him
in attributing the. characters to the Carth-
agenians. Following DR.. Stiless theory
came in the latter part of the last century
| the suggestion that the marking was done
by the Northmen, and signifies that Thor
| finn karlsen arrived at the rock in 1907,
and took possession of the country. Still
others give credit of it to the phoenicians.
The first very extended description of the
rock in the newspapers appeared in 1907,
when the travelleT1K endall;investigated its
history. He decided that some of the
characters had been worn away. The whole
| marking seemed to him to be the work of
some barbarous nation. 'The learned, -
he wrote, are attached to a Phoenicial
origin, and suspect that the Writing Rock
may be a monument of the first nayiga-
tors that passed the Pillars of Hercules.
Indeed they find the Pillars of Hercules
| among the sculptures. The unlearned
though the rock was sculptured by the
command of q pirate, either Capt Kyd
or Blackboard, to mark the site of buried
treasure. ~ The traveller found that for
many rods on either side of the rock
ground had been yainly dug over by see
! kers for pirates gold and silver. Mr.. Ken
nall saw DR.. Stiles's drawing of the rock
and drawing made by Prof. SsWell
many years atterward He concluded that
1 no decay had taken plaoe in the rock for
century, and this LED him to believe that
the sculptures were very ancient. He also
rescued from oblivion the Indian tradition
concerning the rock, which was that
many, very many, moons before, so many
they could not be counted, some white
men arrived in the river in a bird ehQat3;
that the Indians fell upon and slew them;
that during the atfray thunder and light
| ming (the discharge Of the cannon) was
emitted from the ship and that the rock
was the monument of the adventure and
of the slaughter Of the white men of the
bird
Runic scholars have pronounced the
marking on the rock to be writing.
Profs. Rafu and Magnusssen agree in
concluding that its story related to the
Morse voyagers, the former declaring THAI
it named Thorfnn. This translation has
not been deemed satisfactory The late
Samuel Harris, an oriental scholar, after
a long and diligept inspection of the rock,
| deciphered the Hebrew word melek (king)
there. In the Sloane manuscripts in the
| British museum in London are the draw
ings of the rock made bY Rev. Mr. Fisher
| and others in the last century, wherein it
is stated that "There was a tradition
among We Eldest Indians that there came
| a Wooden House land men of another
country in it), who fought the Indians
with mighty success They slew their
saohems. ssThe Indian belief as to the
great antiquity of the marking was for
merly accepted as proof that it was very
old but it has been demonstrated that
| Indian traditions often ascribe the great
est antiquity to very recent events.
The rock was decided to Ole Bull, the
violinist. in 1857, by Niles Arnzen of Fall
River who believed its sculpture to be the
work of his countrymen, the Norsemen
| Ole Bull became much interested in the
rock but died before being able to do
anything towards securing translation Of
the alleged message; o,5 The G,d rock has since
| been conveyed to Old Colony historical
society of Taunton.
| DR.. Garfield found the rock in excellent
condition, and believed that with the pro-
gress antiquarians have made Of lateyears
there is a fair chance of getting something
tangible from the inscription, ii it is
lures and diagrams to the royal society of
northern antiquaries at Copenhagen aud
to the Smithsonian institution at Wash
ington. Among his correspondents on
the subject is 2. Groth. assistants director
of the museum OF Morse antiquities at
in Brooklyn.