Human Foot-Prints m Solid Limestone. 27 



with no unfavorable eyes. To find myself the possessor of a 

 fossil unique in the cabinets of Europe or America, or even of a 

 specimen of aboriginal sculpture that should put to shame the 

 best efforts of Chantrey's chisel, was a prospect calculated to 

 quicken my perceptions of its merits and beauties, or to bias 

 my judgment in favor of its genuine character. Nevertheless, 

 after the most critical inspection. I regret to be impelled to the 

 confession, that I see no incredible display of anatomical know- 

 ledge or artistical skill ; nothing more than we may fairly attrib- 

 ute to the observant and ingenious Indian, dependent for his very 

 life, as the forest warrior daily is, on an intimate and familiar 

 acquaintance with tracks of every description, and more espe- 

 cially, with those of his own race. The representation is, in- 

 deed, easy and natural ; at the heel, at the ball of the foot, at the 

 outer edge of the sole opposite the instep, the impression of the 

 muscular elevations is given with fidelity, yet without any deli- 

 cate details, minute lines of demarcation between the muscles, 

 flexures of the skin or similar minutias. 



The appearance and dimensions of the foot-prints coincide oth- 

 erwise with Schoolcraft's description of them. The greatest 

 depth of the impression is about one sixth of an inch. The rock, 

 as already stated, is a very compact limestone of a gray color, 

 and its general surface has been ground down level, and even 

 partially polished by the attrition of sand and water. The polish 

 has extended to the impressions equally with the rest of the slab, 

 and gives to them a smooth and finished appearance. The scroll, 

 also alluded to by Schoolcraft, (of no determinate figure, as may 

 be seen by the plate,) is of inferior workmanship to the foot- 

 prints. The surface of the foot-prints themselves is somewhat 

 broken by small superficial cracks and indentations ; and deeper 

 fissures and inequalities are distributed over the rest of the slab. 

 It was quarried in two pieces ; the fracture is shown in the draw- 

 ing. 



After a close inspection of the slab itself, a careful examination 

 into its geological position, age, and origin, and a patient review 

 of the arguments of the various writers already quoted, I have 

 come to the conclusion, that the impressions in question are not 

 fossils, but an intaglio of artificial origin. This opinion is based 

 on the following considerations. 



