106 ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE UNITED STATES. 



remains, and the crude speculations to which the sight of them gave rise. These 

 not unfrequently added to the stock of local information, but did not throw much 

 new light on the general subject. 



It was in 1S3G, that the first knowledge appears to have been gained of the 

 emblematic earthworks of Wisconsin. Mr. Lapham, whose elaborate Memoir 

 respecting them has recently been published by the Smithsonian Institution, claims 

 to have been the original discoverer, and to have described some of them in the 

 newspapers of that date. They were brought more prominently to public notice 

 by Mr. R. C. Taylor in a paper accompanied by illustrations, communicated to the 

 American Journal of Arts and Sciences of April, 1838. They will be considered 

 hereafter under the period of their fall development by Mr. Lapham. 



Indian Biographies, or works relating to native manners, customs, and exploits, 

 which come within the period of our own national history, do not properly belong 

 to the class of publications that are the subjects of notice in this memoir, although 

 they may indirectly elucidate archaeological questions. But the comprehensive 

 sketches of Indian history and adventure, compiled by Mr. Drake (which, in suc- 

 cessive editions, have, since 1832, continued to expand in bulk and improve in 

 accuracy), contain also an account of North American antiquities, and a summary 

 of theories and speculations respecting the origin of population on this continent. 

 The authors organ of marvellousness is not large, and he is not disposed to attach 

 an unnecessary degree of wonder and mystery to relics of antiquity, or to circum- 

 stances that happen not to be easy of explanation. He comments freely upon 

 hypotheses that appear to him irrational or visionary, and is satisfied with referring 

 the erection of the earthworks at the West to the ancestors of the existing native 

 race, under some condition favorable to a more stationary life and a denser popula- 

 tion. His book is the result of great industry and careful research, and contains 

 a large amount of interesting and useful information. 1 



When Professor Rafn was engaged, on behalf of the Royal Society of Antiqua- 

 ries at Copenhagen, in preparing the extensive work on the Discovery of America 

 by the Northmen, published by that institution in 1837, letters were sent to socie- 

 ties and individuals in this country soliciting the communication of facts that 

 would illustrate the subject. There followed a correspondence with the Historical 

 Society of Rhode Island, through its secretary, Dr. Webb, in relation to the cele- 

 brated Dighton rock, and other inscribed stones in the same vicinity. 



As the Icelandic manuscripts were supposed to point to the precise region where 

 that rock is placed, as halving been occupied by Northmen, the characters drawn 

 upon it were naturally studied with anxious interest by the Danish antiquaries. 

 A new transcript of the lines and figures carefully drawn, a sketch of the rock 

 and surrounding scenery, and maps of the neighboring coasts and country, were 

 forwarded by gentlemen of the Rhode Island Society to Copenhagen. These were 

 submitted to scholars familiar with Runic monuments and inscriptions, who.pro- 



1 Biography and History of the Indians of North America, from its first discovery to the present 

 time; with an Account of their Antiquities, Manners and Customs, Religion and Laws. By Samuel 

 <i. Drake: Boston, 1832, 18-11. 



