86 PICTURE-WRITING OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS. 
Fig. 48 presents three characters, selected from other portions of the 
rock, to illustrate the variety of designs found. They are like some 
found at Owens valley, California, as will be observed by comparing 
them with the descriptions and plates under that heading in this see- 
tion. The left-hand figure is 4 inches in diameter, the middle one 6 
inches wide and about 15 inches in height, and the third, or right-hand, 
is composed of concentric rings, measuring about 10 inches across. 
@ 
Fig, 48.—Characters trom Bald Friar rock, Maryland. 
MASSACHUSETTS. 
The following description of the much-discussed Dighton rock is 
taken from Schooleraft ()), where it is accompanied with a plate, now 
reproduced as Fig. 49: 
The ancient inseriptian 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. Danforth 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 
resemblance, is presented in the Antiquatés Americanes [sic] (Tables XI, XI), 
and referred to the same era of Scandinavian discovery. The imperfections of the 
drawings (including that executed under the auspices of the Rhode Island Historical 
Society in 1839, Table 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. Itis of purely Indian origin, and is executed in the peculiar symbolic character 
of the Kekeewin. 
ae 
4 = 0) Ca 
PS = Rat ops oe 
y ) (az BD, shOSNs 
LI 
, aN ry 1 LNG 
Ym 0 a ay 
/ “Ree ore AION ar 
MG EGE gore ‘ 
/ * 
vi d y if “S} ax V wa 
Fic. 49.—Dighton rock, Massachusetts. 
A munber of copies of the inscriptions on this rock, taken at different 
times by different persons, are given below in Chapter XXx1, sec. 2, 
with remarks upon them. 
Dr. Hoffman visited the locality in 1886, and found that the surface 
was becoming rapidly destroyed from the frequent use of scrubbing 
with broom and water to remove the film of sand and dirt which is 
