MALLERY.] SPURIOUS PICTOGRAPHS. 761 
cuted, probably with a knife, and evidently of recent make, in which 
Greek, Bardic, and fictitious letters are jumbled together without or- 
der. 
In 1875 a stone maul was discovered in an ancient mine pit near 
Lake Desor, Isle Royal, Lake Superior, on which were cut several 
lines that were at first regarded as letters. 
An instructive paper by Mr. Wm. H. Holmes “On Some Spurious 
Mexican Antiquities and their Relation to Ancient Art,” is published 
in the Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1886, Pt. 1, pp. 319-334, 
SECTION 1. 
THE GRAVE CREEK STONE. 
An inscribed stone found in Grave creek mound, near the Ohio 
river, in 1838, has been the subject of much linguistic contention among 
persons who admitted its authenticity. Twenty-four characters on it 
have been considered by various experts to be alphabetic, and one is 
a supposed hieroglyphic sign. Mr. Schoolcraft says that twenty-two 
of thecharacters are alphabetic, but there has been a difference of opinion 
with regard to their origin. One scholar finds among them four charae- 
ters which he claims are ancient Greek; another claims that four are 
Etruscan; five have been said to be Runic; six, ancient Gaelic; seven, 
old Erse; ten, Phenician; fourteen, old British; and sixteen, Celtibe- 
ric. M. Levy Bing reported at the Congress of Americanists at Nancy, 
in 1875, that he found in the inscription twenty-three Canaanite letters, 
and translated it: “* What thou sayest, thou dost impose it, thou shinest 
in thy impetuous clan and rapid chamois.” (!) M. Maurice Schwab in 
1857 rendered it: ‘‘The Chief of Emigration who reached these places 
(or this island) has fixed these statutes forever.” M. Oppert, however, 
gave additional variety by the translation, so that all tastes can be 
suited: “The grave of one who was assassinated here. May God to 
avenge him strike his murderer, cutting off the hand of his existence.” 
Col..Chas. Whittlesey (a) gives six copies of the Grave creek stone, 
all purporting to be facsimiles, which have been published and used 
in the elaborate discussions held upon its significance. Of these, three 
are here reproduced with Col. Whittlesey’s remarks, as follows: 
Copy No. 1 is reproduced as Fig. 1285, drawn by Capt. Kastman. 
Capt. Seth Eastman was a graduate and teacher of drawing at West Point. He 
was an accomplished draftsman and painter detailed 
by the War Department to furnish the illustrations 
for *‘Schooleraft’s Indian Tribes,” published by the 
Government. This copy was made in his official capae- 
ity, with the stone before him, and therefore takes the 
first rank as authority. There are between the lines 
twenty-two characters, but one is repeated three times 
and another twice leaving only twenty. The figure, if 
it has any significance, is undoubtedly pictorial. 
FiG. 1285,—Grave creek stone. 
