It is also conceded to be not impossible that accidental Norse descents from Greenland upon the continent were made in the centuries that followed. But this is merely an amiable concession to academic conjecture. It is insisted that no reliable Norse remains have ever been found south of Davis Straits: and one by one the various relics thought to be of Norse origin that have been brought forward, including certain supposed Runic inscriptions, have been pronounced incapable of acceptation as such. Several years ago there was found at Inwood, just below the limits of Westchester < 'ounty, by Mr. INWOOr> STONEAlexander C. Chenoweth (whose Indian excavations in the same locality are noticed in the preceding chapter), a stone curiously marked, which was the subject of some archaeological discussion at the time. The markings were claimed to be rude Runic characters constituting an inscription, out of which one writer, by ingeniously interpolating missing letters, formed the words Kirkjussynir akta, which translated are " Sons of the Church tax (or rake a census)." k' I suppose it to mean," added this writer, " that representatives of the Church of Rome had been there to tax, or number the people, and that this stone was inscribed to commemorate the event."1 Thus it is seen that the general region of which our county forms a part has been connected with the fabled ages of Norse habitation of America-- whatever may The Inwood be thought of the specific ground for the connection. An

Inscribed Stone, by Cornelia Horsford (Privately printed. Cambridge. 1S95), p. 14.