Page:History of Barrington, Rhode Island (Bicknell).djvu/41

Rh the sand. This very promontory was most probably either Chipinoxet point or Sowams." From the tenor of this part of the narrative, this expedition was obviously only a short one; and, from what follows, it seems clear also, that it must have been made before the Northmen left Hop to return to Straumiford. It was natural also that they should explore the coast in the immediate neighborhood, before finally quitting it. It is of interest to note that in Mr. Smith's book on the Northmen, the Barrington peninsula has inscribed across it the name, Sowams, thereby indicating the territory known to the Indians by that name, as well as the country supposed to have been explored by the Northmen. While at the present writing we cannot claim with absolute truth that the Northmen did explore Narragansett Bay and the Barrington promontory, we may not regard it as improbable that the first Europeans to discover our bay and town were the intrepid Northmen who really made the first recorded voyage to the North American shores. The later historian of this section may be able to find unearthed evidence that shall establish the truth of that which is now pleasing fiction and tradition, as to the Northmen being the first white occupants or discoverers of Barrington. We record but a brief hint of the story, which may happily prove to be the beginning of the history of the white men on the red men's territory, on Narragansett Bay.

Professor J. Lewis Diman, LL. D., the late eminent professor of history of Brown University, himself a native of Bristol, while a student of Brown University, wrote historical sketches under the title, "Annals of Bristol," which were published in the Bristol Phenix, in 1845–6. He speaks of the Norse expedition of Thorfinn with three ships and one hundred and sixty men in the year 1007–8, and gives it as his opinion that they wintered at or near Bristol. In closing his account he says, " The only trace which has been left by the Northmen, of their wintering in Bristol, is a rock situated near 'The Narrows,' on Mount Hope Bay. This rock was said to have been covered with characters in an