624 The American Naturalist. [July 
Rovers of Norway the honor of discovering America nearly five cen- 
turies before Columbus. He spent many. years in this study and found 
dams, docks, wharves, artificial islands, ditches and canals, that could 
not be accounted for by any known works of either English or Indians 
—though this conclusion was not forced upon him until long after he 
had begun his investigations. With untiring industry he collected 
and pored over scores of ancient and almost inaccessible maps and 
manuscripts, and went afoot over nearly every acre for miles in the 
Valley of the Charles. Despite all this, his work is not known to the 
world at large as it should be, nor appreciated at its value outside of a 
very small circle of those who are ready to listen to proofs instead of 
dismissing as groundless statements they will not be at the trouble to 
verify by a slight outlay of time and labor. 
Professor Horsford preferred not to make any excavations until 
every other source of knowledge had been exhausted ; and it was not 
until May of this year that careful examination was made of certain 
places that seemed to promise good results. 
Most important among these was the site of the house built by 
Thorfinn, who planted the first colony in A. D. 1007, within a few 
rods of the present site of the Cambridge Hospital. It was discovered 
that the foundation wall had been made by digging a trench around a 
rectangular space measuring about sixteen by sixty-four feet. In this 
trench, which was about two feet in width, were placed stones varying 
in size from small pebbles to boulders as large as man could readily 
lift, and in sufficient numbers to prevent the logs or timber resting on 
them from coming in contact with the earth below or at the sides; but: 
they did not extend above the surface. 
Within this foundation, at nearly equal distances from the ends and 
from each other, were two circular pavements some four feet in diame- 
ter, of small stones carefully laid in by hand. They were in the 
proper position for hearths or fire-places, but although the earth under 
and about them contained charcoal and ashes, the stones themselves 
showed no marks of heat. 
The building was very similar to the long houses of the Iroquois; 
the same type may also be found among the timber cutters in our pine 
forests. 
before them, but the truth will now lie with him who digs without fear or favor- 
If the Sea Rovers lived long there, and built many houses, if they buried many 
dead there, then the sure evidence of arts known and practiced by Norsemen will 
see the light, and Mr. Fowke will not ask his friends to agree with him till he 
holds such proof in his hands. 
x H. C. Mercer. 
