139'4. N, AND A. ZENO. 95 



sldered to be old Flemish coins, and others of 

 copper without inscriptions.* 



The coins, which are said to be in the hands of 

 many of the inhabitants of St. John's, will probably 

 decide the question, Avhether these newly dis- 

 covered remains of a former colony be that founded 

 l^y Zichmni, in the latter part of the fourteenth 

 century, or some attempt at the establishment of a 

 colony by the descendants of Eric and Biorn from 

 Iceland in the eleventh century. The Scandina- 

 vians were in the practice of coining money 

 before the tenth century, stamped with the im- 

 pression of a sun, a star, or simply a cross, but 

 w ithout any inscription ; and they also trafficked 

 even before that period wdth foreign money, which 

 they received principally from the Flemings.t One 

 circumstance would seem rather to militate against 

 the supposition of the recently discovered ruins 

 being the remains of a Scandinavian colony. 

 These northern settlers on Iceland and Greenland 

 build chiefly with wood in countries where no 

 wood grows. The ruins in question are of stone, 

 and on a spot where timber grows abundantly. 

 The probability, therefore, js in favour of their 

 being the remains of the fort which Zichmni built 

 on the banks of a fair river, if they may not be 



* This information is received in a letter from Captain 

 Buchan, written at the moment of his sailing on the Northern 

 Expedition. 



f Mallet's Northern Antiquities. 



