ROCK CARVINGS. 277 



When, why, or by whom these remarkable works were 

 erected, as yet we know not. The present Indians, though 

 they look upon them with reverence, can throw no light upon 

 their origin. Nor do the contents of the mounds themselves 

 assist us in this inquiry. Several of them have been opened, 

 and, in making the streets of Milwaukie, many of the mounds 

 have been entirely removed ; but the only result has been to 

 show that they are not sepulchral, and that, excepting by 

 accident, they contain no implements or ornaments. 



Under these circumstances speculation would be useless ; 

 we can but wait, and hope that time and perseverance may 

 solve the problem, and explain the nature of these remarkable 

 and mysterious monuments. 



There is one class of objects which I have not yet mentioned, 

 and which yet ought not to be left entirely unnoticed. 



The most remarkable of these is the celebrated Dighton 

 Bock, on the east bank of the Taunton Eiver. Its history, 

 and the various conclusions which have been derived from it, 

 are very amusingly given by Dr. Wilson.* In 1783, the Eev. 

 Ezra Stiles, D.D., President of Yale College, appealed to this 

 rock, inscribed, as he believed, with Phoenician characters, for 

 a proof that the Indians were descended from Canaan, and 

 were therefore accursed. Count de Gebelin regarded the 

 inscription as Carthaginian. In the eighth volume of the 

 " Archseologia," Colonel Vallency endeavours to prove that it 

 is Siberian ; while certain Danish antiquaries regard it as 

 Eunic, and thought that they could read the name "Thorfinn," 

 "with an exact, though by no means so manifest, enumeration 

 of the associates who, according to the Saga, accompanied 

 Karlsefne's expedition to Vinland, in A.D. 1007." Finally, 

 Mr. Schoolcraft submitted a copy of it to Chingwauk, an 

 intelligent Indian chief, who " interpreted it as the record of 



* Pre-historic Man, vol. ii. p. 172. 



