Page:The Heimskringla; or, Chronicle of the Kings of Norway Vol 1.djvu/191

 figures inscribed upon it, the first question that occurs to every inquirer must be, what is there to prove that these marks are the work of the Northmen, and not of the natives, or of the first European settlers about the year 1620? The stone, of which No. 1. is a delineation (No. 2. is a copy of the marks or inscription in 1790, and No. 3. in 1830), bears nothing to show by whom, or when, the marks in question were scratched upon it. The native tribes of America, the Hottentots, even the natives of Australia, according to Captain Gray's narrative of his travels, have a propensity to delineate rude figures and marks upon the sides of caves and remarkable rocks, to indicate that they have been there, and even to show their tribe, numbers, and the direction they have taken. This stone is, by the description, quite tempting to indulge the propensity common to all men, savage or civilised, to leave some mark after them of their having existed; for it is said to be conspicuous from its position, flat surface, and different texture from the common rock of the country around. It is evident, on referring to