152 



graved marks in the rock, which is now covered 

 by the waters of the river. Count Gebelin does 

 not hesitate, with the learned Dr. Stiles, to re- 

 gard these marks as a Carthaginian inscrip- 

 tion. He says, with that enthusiasm which is 

 natural to him, but which is highly injurious 

 in discussions of this kind, that this inscription 

 comes happily at the moment from the new 

 world, to confirm his ideas on the origin of 

 nations ; and that it is clearly demonstrated to 

 be a Phoenician monument, a picture which, in 

 the foreground^ represents an alliance between 

 the American people and the foreign nation, 

 coming by the winds of the north from a rich 

 and industrious country. 



I have carefully examined the four draw- 

 ings of the celebrated stone of Taunton river, 

 which Mr. Lort* published in London in the 

 Memoirs of the Antiquarian Society. Far 

 from recognizing a symmetrical arrangement 

 of simple letters and syllabic characters, I 

 discover a drawing scarcely traced, like those 

 that have been found on the rocks of Norwayf-, 

 and in almost all the countries inhabited by the 

 Scandinavian nations. In this sketch we dis- 

 tinguish, from the form of the heads, five hu- 



* Account of an ancient Inscription, by Mr. Lort, Archse- 

 ologia, vol. 3, p. 290. 



+ Sulim, Samlinger til ten Danske Historie, B. 2, p. 215. 



& 



