HISTORICAL FOOTPRINTS IN AMERICA. 297" 



instance, the style in which the more ancient stone edifices of the 

 North were constructed, the style which belongs - to the Roman or 

 ante-gothic architecture, and which, especially after the time of 

 Charlemagne," diffused itself from Italy over the whole of the west 

 and north of Europe, where it continued to predominate, until the 

 close of the twelfth century. . . . From such characteristics 

 as remain we can scarcely form any other inference than one, in which 

 I am persuaded that all who are familiar with old Northern architec- 

 ture will concur : that this building was erected at a period decidedlj 

 not later than the twelfth century."* Having thus settled the age 

 of the venerable structure, and scornfully dismissed the idea of its 

 erection for a windmill, as one the futility of which any architect 

 could discern ; that of its supposed primary destination as a watcli 

 tower is also rejected : and the final conclusion indicated is that it is 

 an ecclesiastical structure which originally " belonged to some monas- 

 tery or Christian place of worship in one of the chief parishes in 

 Yinland. In Greenland there are still to be found ruins of several 

 round buildings in the vicinity of the churches. These round build- 

 ings have been most likely Baptisteries ;" and in proof of this, refer- 

 ence is made to an octagonal building forming part of the ruins of 

 Mellifont Abbey, in the County of Louth, in Ireland. 



To venture on questioning the genuineness of this Norse relic after 

 these attestations of its credentials to such venerable antiquity, in- 

 volved some degree of boldness. Its associations moreover, connect 

 it unmistakeably with the olden time. It forms a central point in 

 some of the romantic scenes of Cooper's "Red Rover;" .and Long- 

 fellow, assuming its antiquity as amply attested for all a poet's pur- 

 poses, has associated it with another discovery of so-called Norse relics, 

 which was welcomed at the time as fresh confirmation of the Scandi- 

 navian colonisation of the ancient Vinland. An Indian skeleton was 

 dug up at Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1831, buried in a sitting pos- 

 ture, wrapped in cedar bark, with some tubes, two arrow-heads, and 

 other fragments of brass lying beside it. At any other time, the 

 native origin of the whole would have been acknowledged beyond all 

 dispute. But the discovery coincided with the researches of Profes- 

 sor Rafn and his colleagues at Copenhagen. f Thither accordingly 

 specimens of the relics were sent. A portion of what was somewhat 



*Antiquitates Americana, Supp. p. 18. 



t Memoire sur la decouverte de VAmerique au dixieme siecle. Copenhagen, 

 1848. 



