FAEQUHAESOK ON INSCRIBED TABLETS. 107 



Britain) ; but as Prof. Rafn was totally unable to unravel the inscription, 

 the resemblance is no doubt a fanciful one ; just as finding tlie letters 

 T, O, "W", N, in the Davenport inscription may also be pure fancy. 



The third engraved stone is a quartz axe, found on the ocean beach in 

 Nova Scotia. 



The fourth is the Pemberton axe of New Jersey. 



The fifth and sixth are the Holy Stones of Wyrick. They had Hebrew 

 characters on them, and were said to have been taken from two separate 

 mounds in Licking County, Ohio, one near Newark and the otlier near 

 Jacktown. 



The seventh, having Hebrew letters, and alleged to have been taken 

 from the latter mound, though, like the others, evidently a fraud, has a 

 somewhat curious history from the fact that an account of its finding 

 was presented to the Congress of Americanists at Nancy (1875), in whose 

 proceedings it will be found, together with an illustration of it and one 

 of the Wyrick stones from photographs ; the savans present wisely re- 

 serving their decision. 



The eighth engraved stone is an axe from Butler County, Ohio, with 

 English characters. 



The ninth is from Grand Travei-se Bay, Michigan, with Greek, Bardic 

 and fictitious characters, all jumbled together, without order, and very 

 imperfectly executed with a knife. 



The tenth being a stone maul from, an ancient mine-pit. Lake Supe- 

 rior, on which are some characters, at first supposed to be letters. 



In his last tract. Col. Whittlesey, omits all mention of the Cincinnati 

 stone, whose authenticity was the subject of so much controversy, the 

 weight of evidence being now in its favor. However, it scarcely de- 

 serves menting here, as the marks on it liave no pretensions to being let- 

 ters, or even hieroglyphic or symbolic figures, being in fact, purely orna- 

 mental. A stone like it, but figured on both sides, was found in one of 

 the minor mounds of Grave Creek, and is figured in Schoolcraft's work. 



DISCOVERY or THE TABLETS. 



In this regard there is but little to be said in addition to the account 

 already given by the original explorers. Perhaps, however, it might be 

 well enough to state that these tablets are from Mound ^o. 3 of the 

 series already described in Vol. I of our Proceedings, the hole dug in 

 finding them being on the north or opposite side from the site of the 

 former exploration. Shortly after the report of the discovery, several 

 gentlemen, officers of the Academy, visited the excavation, and through 

 our President, Mr. Hunting, reported, that from the unbroken condition 

 of the layers of shells, and from other evidences visible, they were of the 

 opinion that no disturbance of the mound had taken pla43e since the 

 formation of these layers. 



But the indisputable evidence of the authenticity of these tablets rests 

 in the explicit statement of the Rev. Mr. Gass and the gentlemen assist- 

 ing him, — that after the penetration of the frozen crust of the earth, they 



