Judge Davis’ attempt to expiain the inscribtion on Dighton rock. 199 
“ the neck. They struggle greatly to get loose, and sometimes they 
“carry with them or break the snares. Sometimes also they stran- 
** ole themselves, or at least give the hunters time to shoot them at 
‘their ease. Those, which escape this, fare no better ; they are in- 
“‘ closed in too small a space to shun the arrows, which the hunters 
“* jet fly at them from all sides.” I had frequently read the interest- 
ing letters of Charlevoix, without being particularly attracted by this 
passage ; but at the time of the perusal abovementioned, having been 
called to pay some attention to the inscription on the Dighton rock, 
it immediately occurred to me, that the triangular inclosures, thus de- 
scribed by the writer, much resemble some very prominent figures in 
that inscription. _ I soon after procured Champlain’s Voyages from 
the College Library, and found that Charlevoix had given a justsum- 
mary of what is recorded by that faithful and intelligent traveller; ex- 
cepting that I do not find in Champlain any mention of the snares of 
raw skins, at the entrance of the smaller triangle, specified by Charle- 
voix. I was gratified to find in Champlain’s book an engraved rep- 
resentation of this gigantic trap; of which I have taken a rude copy. 
(See Fig. 19). By comparing this representation and the description 
with two of the uppermost figures in Mr. Winthrop’s copy of the in- 
scription on the Dighton rock the resemblance will, I think, be appa- 
rent to every observer. In Mr. Kendal’s drawing isan additional re- 
presentation of this figure near the bottom of the rock, under the fig- 
ure of the quadruped. Whatever may have been intended by the exe 
hibition, it was evidently a favorite figure with those, who framed the 
inscription, as we may infer from its being thus repeated. I am in- 
duced to believe, that the very apparatus, described and sketched by 
Champlain, was designed to be expressed by those resembling figures 
on the rock. 
