316 HISTORICAL FOOTPRINTS IN AMERICA! 



Such then are a few highly characteristic illustrations of the foot- 

 prints of early American explorers and settlers, which, without attempt- 

 ing any exhaustive treatment of the subject, may suffice fpr the pur- 

 pose now in view. The sculptured tablet, the engraved plate, the 

 medal, and the coin, are nearly indestructible. Wherever they have 

 been left they are sure, sooner or later, to turn up ; and already, as we 

 see, chance discoveries on widely scattered localities, carry us back 

 wonderfully near the first well established dates of permanent settle- 

 ment on the chief centres of early occupation. The Northmen colo- 

 nised Greenland nearly eleven hundred years ago, .and their memorials 

 remain to this day, as indubitable as those of the Romans in trans- 

 alpine Europe. The Spaniards took possession of the American main- 

 land six centuries later, followed by the Portugese, the French, and 

 the English ; and the traces of all of them carry us back wonderfully 

 near the earliest dates of their presence there. We know, moreover, 

 from the amusing history of the Dighton Rock inscription, that the 

 subject has attracted a lively and even eager attention for nearly two 

 centuries; and since the revival of the traditions of the long lost Vin- 

 land, ante-Columbian inscriptions and memorials have been sought for 

 even with an undue excess of zeal. The antiquaries of New England 

 have done good service to the historian by their thorough exploration 

 of all real or imaginary traces of ante-Columbian colonisation ; and 

 have no special reason to blush for the ardour with which they have 

 been stimulated in the pursuit of so tempting a prize. If, however, 

 some of them are inclined to reflect on the labours of their more en- 

 thusiastic confreres as a little Quixotic, they may derive consolation 

 from the abundant counterparts that serve to keep them in counten- 

 ance, in the past history of archaeological research in older corners of 

 the world. Nor has their labour been in vain. Their diligence has 

 gone far to prove that no such relics as they sought for are to be found ; 

 and that if Icelandic and Norse rovers, or far older Egyptian, Phoeni- 

 cian, Greek, or Punic adventurers, ever landed, by choice or chance, on 

 the American shores, they have left no memorials of their premature 

 glimpses of the Western Hemisphere; and appear to have made no 

 permanent settlements on its soil. 



