152 
graved marks in the rock, which is now covered 
by the waters of the river. Count Gebelin does 
not hesilate, 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 Norway^f^, 
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, Archag- 
ologia, vol. 3, p. 290, 
+ Sulim, Samlinger til ten Danske Historie, B, 2, p. 215. 
