crossing the sands of the Cape, I noticed a singular mirage, or deception. In Orleans, for instance, we seemed to be ascending at an angle of three or four degrees; nor was I convinced that this was not the case, until turning about, I perceived that a similar ascent appeared in the road just passed over. I shall not attempt to explain this optical deception; but merely remark that it is probably of the same kind as that observed by Humboldt on the Pampas of Venezuela: "all around us," he says, "the plains seemed to ascend toward the sky.") "When Thorfinn had passed this Cape, he says that the coast was indented with bays and inlets. The word Hóp in Icelandic, may mean "either a recess or bay, formed by a river from the interior falling into an inlet from the sea, or the land bordering on such a bay." To this Mount Hope, or Haup bay, as the Indians term it, corresponds; through this the Taunton river flows, and passing through the narrow but navigable Pocasset river, meets the waters of the ocean at Seaconnett Point.

If we compare the accounts which the Northmen give of the climate, soil, and natural productions of the country, with what we know of them from other sources, we are struck with the similarity. The climate, they say, was mild, so that the cattle which they brought with them, grazed all the winter long. We can easily reconcile this seeming discrepancy with the severity of our present New England winters, by remembering that the Icelanders spoke comparatively. The coldness of a New England winter would have, to them, the genial mildness of spring. The cattle, too, accustomed in Iceland to browse off the branches of trees during the winter, might have easily gained their sustenance here in the same way; though farmers in Nantucket now often keep their sheep out all the winter long. They spoke of wild grapes as being found there in abundance. This is eminently true of that region, and we know that the Vineyard sound obtained its name from the vine-bearing island situated at its opening. And even if Vinland, according to Mallet and other old writers, is to be looked for upon the coast of Labrador or Newfoundland, there will be no difficulty on that score. Some indeed endeavored to do away with the objection that no grapes grew in those countries, by contending that the grapes which Tyrker discovered, were only currants, which in the Northern languages are called Vünboer, or wine-berries-a general name in the North for goose-berries, currants and grapes. But this is not necessary; Mr. Ellis in his "voyage to Hudson's Bay," Vol. II., speaks of the vine as growing in that region; and Labrador is not very far distant from that place; it lies partly in the same, and partly in a more

southern latitude, and their several productions seem to be much alike. Other travelers, too, speak of the vine as growing there.

An object of great importance in the eyes of the Northmen, was a species of wood of great beauty, which they called "mazar." This may correspond either to the bird's-eye maple, or to the tulip tree, or the locust. The spontaneous growing wheat mentioned as being there, is the same with the maize discovered by the English upon landing in the country. Fish, too, abound in the waters about Taunton, and game, such as deer, were very plentiful in the earliest times, so that the place was one of common resort among the Indians, for hunting. Thus one sees that the coincidence of the natural productions, also points to the vicinity of Narragansett Bay, as the Vinland of the Northmen. It is mentioned by the chronicle that when Eric was at Vinland, the sun rose in the winter at half past seven, and set at half past four. The latitude from these data is fixed by Professor Rafn at 41° 24′ 10′′ North. This would place it in the vicinity of Taunton. Not very much reliance, however, can be placed upon this. The old Icelandic word which we translate hour is of very uncertain signification; and the ancient chronicles may be so understood as to give us room to conclude that at the winter solstice, the sun rose at eight in the morning and set at four. This gives us the forty-ninth degree, which is the latitude of Canada and Newfoundland.

The last evidence which we shall consider, is found in the Dighton Inscriptions. The earliest notice of this inscription is in No. 339, of the "Philosophical Transactions," for the year 1714, where there is a letter from Cotton Mather, calling attention to some remarkable inscriptions upon a rock at Taunton, by the side of a tiding river. There seems to have been nothing further done about this by the Society at that time; and in the "Archæologia," published by the Society of Antiquaries in London, Vol. VIII, there is an "Account of an Ancient Inscription in North America," by Dr. Lort. This was in 1786. In this paper, he speaks of a sermon preached by Pres. Stiles, of Yale College, in which the preacher, following some learned gentlemen of the Parisian Academy of Science, maintains that the inscriptions are in Punic characters, and are a proof that the Carthaginians once visited this country. Others asserted that "the writing was the work of a people who once inhabited Siberia, and passed thence to the great continent of America; and that these were a lettered people, and skilled in all the sciences of those ages, but have been mostly destroyed in the Northern part of America, by great hordes of ling Tartars who followed them, and now form the savage Indians."

We have not visited this rock, and cannot therefore do better than copy from the report made by the committee appointed by the Rhode Island Historical Society to investigate the subject. "It is situated," the report says, "about six and a half miles south of Taunton, on the east side of Taunton River, a few feet from the shore, and on the west side of Assonet Neck in the town of Berkley, although, probably from the fact of being generally visited from the opposite side of the river, which is in Dighton, it has always been known by the name of the Dighton Writing. Rock. It faces north-west, toward the bed of the river, and is covered by the water two or three feet at the highest, and is left ten or twelve feet from it at the lowest tides; it is also completely immersed twice in twenty-four hours. The rock does not occur in situ, but shows indubitable evidence of having occupied the spot where it now rests, since the period of that great and extensive disruption, which was followed by the transportation of immense boulders to, and a deposit of them in places at a vast distance from their original beds. It is a mass of well-characterized, fine grained, grey wacke. Its true color, as exhibited by a fresh fracture, is a bluish grey. There is no rock in the immediate neighborhood that would at all answer as a substitute for the purpose, for which the one bearing the inscription was selected; as they are aggregates of the large conglomerate variety. Its face, measured at the base, is eleven feet and a half, and in height it is a little over five feet. The upper surface forms, with the horizon, an inclined plane of about sixty degrees. The whole of the face is covered, to within a few inches of the ground, with unknown hieroglyphics. There appears little or no method in the arrangement of them. The lines are from half an inch to an inch in width; and in depth, sometimes one-third of an inch, though generally very superficial. They were, inferring from the rounded elevation and intervening depression, pecked in upon the rock, and not chiseled or smoothly cut out. The marks of human power and manual labor are indelibly stamped upon it. No one who examines attentively the workmanship, will believe it to have been done by the Indians. Moreover, it is a well attested fact, that no where, throughout our wide-spread domain, is there a single instance of their recording or having recorded their deeds or history upon stone."

It will not be possible to represent the different copies of inscription here, but the most authentic one seems to be that adopted by the Royal Society of Denmark as exhibited in the "Antiquitates Americana." It is difficult to attach any particular meaning to the groups of human

figures, rudely sketched, which cover the most of the rock; but in the centre of the inscription, appear the following characters, with one exception, distinctly legible:

TXXXI M

PORFINS

The first letter is a common form of the Icelandic C., and may, as a numerical letter, express either the common one hundred, or the greater hundred, i. e. one hundred and twenty. The letters following it, also, taken as numerals, express thirty-one, which added to the greater hundred, makes one hundred and fifty-one. This number exactly agrees with the number of men with whom Thorfinn landed in Vinland. For when Thorfinn's company of one hundred and sixty men had come to Straumey, there was doubt among them as to the situation of Vinland, and Thorwald with eight companions parted from the rest and sailed to the north in search of it, while Thorfinn with the remaining men sailed toward the south, and, as we are led to believe, landed at Taunton. So that the number corresponds with that on the inscription. The combination which immediately follows the numerals, is composed of the three letters NA M, and has the meaning "took possession of." The first letter of the line below is so defaced, that it is merely by conjecture that the editors of the "Antiquitates" ("vix nimis temerarie") supply the letter which is placed there, and which is the Icelandic T H. The next letter is an old form of O, and as such, is found in manuscripts bearing date 787. The remaining letters correspond, in use, to the English characteristics of the same form. Taking then, the supposition that the greater hundred is referred to in the numeral T, and that the letters TH are rightly substituted for the lost form in the name, the inscription would read:

THORFINN (or Thorfins,) WITH One hundred and fifty men took

POSSESSION OF THIS COUNTRY.

"But," you will ask, "what proof have we that these manuscripts and old chronicles are genuine, and not the work of later ages?" Of the

authenticity and age of the manuscripts we think there can be no doubt, and they have, in fact, hardly been called in question. The different manuscripts agree in all the main points, and it is only in a few particulars that they differ, and this would rather confirm the evidence than destroy it, since it shows that they were not fabricated. In the earliest times the Northmen had their Skalds, who, like the rhapsodists of Greece sang the exploits of their warriors, and as early as A. D. 1050, manuscripts are found containing collections of Sagas or songs of the Skalds; and numerous are the traditions among the Icelanders of the deeds of their earlier and more famous days. The traditions and manuscripts in regard to the discovery of America, have always been known and recognized among the Northmen, but the limited means of the Icelandic scholars has prevented their publication heretofore, although some of the leading facts have from time to time been given to the world.

We have endeavored thus to sum up briefly the various facts and proofs in the accounts of the Discovery of America; for a full and minute narration is impracticable in an article like this. And we are sure that the detailed account and laborious arguments which have been so faithfully set forth in the "Antiquitates Americanae," cannot fail to interest all who are curious upon this topic.

But even if it be proved that America was known to the Northmen before Columbus set foot upon our shores, we deprive that great navigator of none of his honor. The glory of discovery belongs to him in a higher degree. A hardy and adventurous band of mariners, roaming over the sea, accidentally discover a continent; deeming it of little importance, a few colonies are sent out to people it a few straggling bands coast along its shores, and not many years elapse before the colonies are abandoned, the coasts deserted, and Vinland is remembered only in the traditions and the records of the once powerful Northmen. The time had not yet come for the commencement of the grand drama of the West. The world was not prepared to receive into fellowship a new continent, and send out mighty men to people it. But a few centuries pass, the light of Christianity and learning shines forth from the gloom of the Dark Ages, the preparatory work is consummated, and then Columbus with his great intellect and determined will, lifts the veil of obscurity, and discloses to an astonished world a new hemisphere. While we look with curiosity and interest upon the voyages of the Northmen, we gaze with awe and admiration upon the Discovery of Columbus.