[ganong] stone medallion OF LAKE UTOPL\ 95 



described by Sir Daniel Wilson in these Transactions (VIII, 1890, 

 ii, 118, and Plate I; compare also Collections of the Nova Scotia His- 

 torical Society, XVII, 1913, 51-56). I agree with Mr. Vroom, already 

 cited, that a Norse visitor could have carved the head, but would 

 not have omitted to add the runes to tell its story. In this connection 

 the fact is significant that W. H. Babcock, in his elaborate studies 

 of the Norse Voyages to America {Smithsonian Miscellaneous Col- 

 lections, LIX, 1913, pp. 1-213), wherein he concludes that Passa- 

 maquoddy was one of their principal localities, and to whom, there- 

 fore, any evidence of their presence there would be especially welcome, 

 has only this to say of the Utopia stone after his consideration of it 

 (p. 52), in light of I. Allen Jack's paper: — ■ 



He believed it to be Indian; but Mr. Mcintosh [Curator of the Museum of 

 the Natural History Society at St. John] thinks not. It seems to be som.ething 

 of a mystery, although no one has ascribed it to the Norsemen. 



French. Brought to this category primarily by a process of 

 exclusion, we are happily not without evidence, albeit but circum- 

 stantial, in its support. 



The very marked weathering of the stone subsequent to its 

 cutting would lead us to seek the possible French carver at the earliest 

 possible date. This points to the French colony which spent the 

 winter of 1604-5 on St. Croix Island, now called Dochet Island, 

 which lies 17 miles in a straight line, or 25 miles by the water route, 

 from the place where the stone was found. The history of this 

 colony, which was led by DeMonts and Champlain, is given fully 

 in a Monograph in these Transactions (VIII, 1902, ii, 127-231; XII, 

 1906, ii, 103-6). It was a carefully organized and well equipped 

 expedition of some 75 persons, including noblemen, soldiers, sailors, 

 and various kinds of skilled workmen. They spent a dreary winter 

 in enforced idleness on the Island, enduring such hardships that 

 half of them died ; and in the spring the remainder removed to Port 

 Royal (Annapolis), and re-established the settlement, which per- 

 sisted until 1607 when it was taken back to France and the country 

 temporarily abandoned. 



The thought is natural that the stone may have been carved by 

 some member of that colony in the tedium of the winter on the 

 Island. Seeking some test of this possibility, it suddenly occurred 

 to me that although the rnedallion is composed of stone very like 

 that of the ledge against which it is said to have rested when found, 

 this same band of granite extends across country to Dochet Island, 

 of which it makes up some part, in the same jointed condition as 

 at Utopia. Happening to have in my possession a piece of the Island 



