person or party of the adventurous era of wild
discovery and goW hunting, which began with
1492. Several notices of this relic have appeared,
differing, however, in their accounts of
parts of the inscription. The stone itself has
been, some years, deposited in the museum of
the Albany Institute, where it is open to inspection.
The following is a fac simile of it.
The disposition to exalt every antiquarian discovery
of the country into a wonder, is one of
the characteristics of the era. As the authenticity
of this monument has not been questioned^
and the fact it discloses does not put reason and
probability to the stretch, there Would not appear
to have been a necessity for the multiplicity of
speculations, which it has given rise to. But as
such speculations have been made, it is proper
to allude to them, in order truly to understand
the question.
The discovery itself had all the simplicity
whickgenerally marks the narration of accidental
incidents of the kind, by plain persons,
who are intent on their own practical affairs,
and are not set on theories, or discoveries of any
sort. In the year 1820. or 1821, a farmer of
Manlius, a Mr. Philo Cleaveland, determined to
extend his meadow lands over a previously uncultivated
part of his farm, and, after felling and
removing the trees, began to prepare it, by picking
up the larger stones!. This inscription stone
was found among them. If rested ©», and was
partly imbedded m, a moist piece of ground. It
was toward evening, at the closing of his day’s
labors, when’ he raised the stone with his iron
bar and turned it on its edge. Mr. C. being
lyeary, leaned against a stump near by, with his
hands resting on the top of the bar. While
musing in that position, with his eyes fixed upon
the stone, he' observed something remarkable
about it5 and upon taking a nearer view, discovered
sOme of the characters and letters above
described. He removed it to a pile of stones
not far distant, and at the time thought but
little of it. Several days afterward he made
'another visit to the stone, when he found that
the rain had washed the dirt clean from it, and
the rude engraving was much more distinctly to
be seen. This induced him to invite some of
his neighbors to examine it, whereupon it was