140 AMERICAN LITERARY FORGERIES. 



are proved to be correct. The confirmation of this Saga will also clinch 

 the theory that the Irish were the first Europeans to discover the con- 

 tinent of America." How this latter conclusion, so gratifying to all 

 Irishmen, follows from the premises, is not very obvious : unless, in- 

 deed, the mere difference of a letter between Ireland and Iceland is to 

 be ignored, as too insignificant a trifle for notice by any candid mind. 

 But we have Mr. Raffinnson's assurance that it is so ; and when a 

 learned Dane, with such self-sacrificing disinterestedness, makes the 

 assertion, it is not our part to challenge it. 



With this strangely recovered historical document of the twelfth 

 century in his mind, Mr, Raffinnson, on reaching the United States, 

 very naturally proceeds to Washington, and pushes on to the Great 

 Falls of the Potomac, "to ascertain if any traces of the visit of Hervardur 

 were to be found;" and sure enough, here is the very inscription, in 

 even better counterpart of the original Saga than the famous Dighton 

 Rock record of Thorfinn and his fellow explorers, who, according 

 to the Thorfinns Saga, accompanied Karlsefne's expedition to Vinland, 

 or New England, in A.D., 1007. Such curious coincidences are not 

 uncommon in romance ; but in a grave historical confirmation of such 

 obsecure chroniclings " materially affecting history," they do startle 

 one a little. 



In 1863 the Skalholt MS. was dug up, none the worse for its seven 

 and a half centuries' exposure to damp and decay. On the 28th of 

 June, 1867, Mr. Raf&nnson, in company with M. Louis Lequereux 

 and other learned associates, including "the distinguished geologist, 

 Professor Brand," had "the happiness and satisfaction," on scraping 

 away some lichens, to find " on the north-east side of the large rock 

 commonly called the ' Arrow-Head,' on the Potomac river, two miles 

 below the Great Falls, and about thirteen miles above the city of Wash- 

 ington," the very "White-Shirt inscription" of A.D. 1051, they were 

 on the look-out for, with its record of Snorri's illegitimate daughter, 

 Syasy the fairhaired. With its assigned restorations, and rendered in 

 Roman letters, it runs thus : 



HIR HVILIR SYASY FAGRHARDR AVSTFIRTHINGR IKI 

 A KILDI SYSTR THORG SAMFETHRA HALFTHRITGR 

 GLEDA GVD SAL HENAR XMLI 



Which, according to its learned discoverer, reads, " Here rests Syasy 

 the fairhaired, a person from the east of Iceland, the widow of Kjoldr, 



