FAEQUHARSON ON INSCRIBED TABLETS. 105 



The subject matter of this paper, our inscribed tablets, will now be 

 briefly considered under the following heads : 



1. A short notice of the various inscribed stones found in the United 

 States and Canada, both true and false. 



2. The discovery of the Davenport Tablets, and the evidence in our 

 possession of their authenticity. 



3. A description of the Tablets. 



4. A commentary on the Calendar Stone. 



5. A commentary on the Sepulchral Rite Stone, and on the letters or 

 hieroglyphics. 



6. ji. commentary on the Hunting Scene Stone and its natural history, 

 with some remarks on the question of the contemporaneous existence, 

 on this continent, of man and the mastodon. 



I. — INSCRIBED STONES. 



The oldest and most celebrated inscribed stone in this country is un- 

 doubtedly that of Dighton Rock, in Massachusetts near the mouth of 

 Taunton River. This famous inscription has been described, figured and 

 discussed many times in the past two hundred years ; at one time it was 

 considered a bit of Indian picture writing and no more, in which state 

 opinion rested for a long while. It came again into importance when the 

 question of the Pre-Columbian discovery of America was brought for- 

 ward. There are two kinds of inscriptions on the rock, one of which is 

 apparently Indian, was so regarded by the late Prof. Wyman, and as such 

 was intelligently translated for Schoolcraft by an Indian. The other, 

 altogether different, is regarded as Runic, and is shown in the cartoon. 



The essential parts of the inscription, according to the skillful Runolo- 

 gist, Finn Magnusen, to whom it was referred by Prof. Rafn, are as 

 follows : 



FIG. 10. 



NOERROENIR M ADR NAM (land) ThORFINS. 



That is, 151 i^orthmen occupied this land (with) Thorflns. G or C 

 being the centum majus, or ten dozen (120) of the ancient Scandinavians. 



As this reading accords almost exactly with the long lost and recently 

 found Saga of Thorflnn Karlsefn, and is accepted by the French Runol- 

 ogists, it may be accepted as the true one.* 



The confidence inspired by this successful reading induced the Royal 

 Socie ty of Antiquarians of Denmark to purchase this rock, and arrange- 



*Compte-Eendu dii Congress des Americanistes, Nancy, 1875, Vol. I, article Dighton Eock. 

 [Proc. D. A. N. S. Vol. II.] 16 [April, 1877.] 



