20 PICTOGRAPHS OF THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS. 



This is particularly noticeable throughout the country of the great 

 lakes, and the Northern, Middle, and New England States. 



The voluminous discussion upon the Dighton Rock, Massachusetts, 

 inscription, renders it impossible wholly to neglect it. 



The following description, taken from Schoolcraft's History, Condi- 

 tion, and Prospect of the Indian Tribes of the United States, Vol. IV, 

 p. 119, which is accompanied with a plate, is, however, sufficient. It is 

 merely a type of Algonkin rock-carving, not so interesting as many 

 others : 



The ancient inscription on a bowlder of greenstone rock lying in the margin of the 

 Assonet, or Taunton River, in the area of ancient- Vinland, was noticed by the New 

 England colonists so early as 1680, when Dr. Dauforth made a drawing of it. This 

 outline, together with several subsequent copies of it, at different eras, reaching to 

 1830, all differing considerably in their details, but preserving a certain general resem- 

 blance, is presented in the Antiquated Americanes [sic] (Tab. XI, XII) and referred to 

 the same era of Scandinavian discovery. The imperfections of the drawings (includ- 

 ing that executed under the auspices of the Rhode Island Historical Society, in 1830, 

 Tali. XII) and the recognition of some characters bearing more or less resemblance to 

 antique Roman letters and figures, may be considered to have misled Mr. Magnusen 

 in his interpretation of it. From whatever cause, nothing could, it would seem, have 

 been wider from the purport and true interpretation of it. It is of purely Indian 

 origin, aud is executed in the peculiar symbolic character of the Kekeewin. 



ROCK CARVINGS IN PENNSYLVANIA. 



Many of the rocks along the river courses in Northern and Western 

 Pennsylvania bear traces of carvings, though, on account of the char- 

 acter of the geological formations, some of these records are almost, if 

 not entirely, obliterated. 



Mr. P. W. Shafer published in a historical map of Pennsylvania, in 

 1 ST.".. several groups of pictographs. (They had before appeared in a 

 rude and crowded form in the Transactions of the Anthropological Insti- 

 tute of New York, N. Y., 1871-'72, p. 66, Figs. 25, 26, where the locali- 

 ties are mentioned as "Big" and "Little" Indian Rocks, respectively.) 

 One of these is situated on the Susquehanna River, below the dam at 

 Safe Harbor, and clearly shows its Algonkin origin. The characters are 

 nearly all either animals or various forms of the human body. Birds, 

 bird-tracks, and serpents also occur. A part of this pictograph is pre 

 sented below, Figure 149, page 220. 



On the same chart a group of pictures is also given, copied from the 

 originals on the Allegheny River, in Venango County, 5 miles south of 

 Franklin. There are but six characters furnished in this instance, three 

 of which are variations of the human form, while the others are unde- 

 termined. 



Mr. J. Sutton Wall, of Monougahela City, describes in correspondence 

 a rock bearing pictographs opposite the town of Millsborough, in Fayette 



