1888.] Tlie Alabama Stone, 487

THE ALABAMA STONE.By HENRY W. HAYNES.

UN May 1, 1824, Mr. Silas Dinsmore, of Mobile, Ala-bama, who had been elected a councillor of this society, inrecognition of the compliment thus paid to him, forwardedfor its cabinet the large, unwrought piece of sandstone, of arudely conical shape and bearing an inscription in Romanletters and Arabic figures, which is now before us. Itmeasures 2H inches in height, 18 in breadth, and from 10to 13 in thickness ; and weighs 204 pounds. In regard tothe inscription Dr. Haven says: "To our eyes it readsHISPAN.ET.IND.REX as plainly as the same inscriptionon a S[)anisli tjuarter of a dollar that is somewhat worn.The tigurcs maybe as above represented (1232), but ofcourse they cannot be intended for a date."*

Sir Daniel Wilson calls it ** an innocent piece of blunder-ing," and suggests that the figures may be intended for1532 ; but an inspection of the original does not sustain thisopinion.^

The circumstances attending the discovery of the stonewere related at the time in a letter, now in the possession ofthe Society, written from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, April 12,1824, by Mr. Levin Powell to Mr. Henry A. Snow, fromwhom Mr. Dinsmore had obtained it. The following ex-tract contains all that is of any consequence upon thatpoint: " In the year 1816, about which time the countryaround Tuscaloosa was for the first time traversed by the

iy of the United Stiitca . . . by Samnel P . Haven, p. 134. (Smith-sonian ConLributioii.i to Knowledfït', vol. viii.)

aprehiBtoric Man . . . by Daniel Wilson. 3ii ed. vol. H., p. 110.

488 American Antiquarian Society. [Oct.

THE ALABAMA «TONE.

feet of elvilized manw i t h i n our knowl-edge, the rock here-with presented wasfound in an extensiveplain six or sevenm i l e s below t h i splace, precisely in thesame shape and withthe same inscriptionswhich it now has.Shortly after whichii was taken andnought to town, and

.i;i9 ever since beenunder my inspectionand care. One cir-cumstance, g o i n g

conclusively to show that it is not the work of some personmerely for the sake of exciting speculation, is that therock must have been taken from the falls of the BlackWarrior river, or somewhere equally us distant, and carriedto the place where it was found, which is a distance of sixor seven miles, as rock of the same description, or any other,is not to be found anywhere nearer."

Some further information in regard to the discovery iscontained in a paper read by Mr. Thomas Maxwell lieforethe Alabama Historical Society, July 1, 1876.* He says:**In 1817 Mr. Tbomas Scales, a wortliy citizen of the neigh-borhood, when a I>oy, removed with his father from NorthAlabama to the new settlement at Tuskaloosa Falls. Thefirst work they did was to clear a piece of ground on thenorth bank of the river, six miles from our wharf, justbelow the mouth of Big Creek. In clearing away the tim-

iTuskjiIooHii; tbe origin of it« name, Us bistory, etc. . . . by Thoinaa Max-well, p. 79.

1888.] The Alabama Stone. 489

ber they found an earthwork or embankment, in the natureof a tbrtification, which rau across the peninsula formed liythe junction of the creek and the river. This embankmentwas about four feet high, and on the top of it, all the wayacross from river to creek, were growing the largest treesof the forest. At the foot of one of these (a large tulip-tree which stood on the very edge of the embankment),they found a stone set up against the tree, with the lowerend of the stone half buried in the soil. On the atone theydiscovered some curious letters, wbich, being in Latin, theycould not understanii ; and this, Mr. Scales said, inducedIns father to take tho stone up to the settlement at the falls,now the town of Tuskaloosa, where it stood for a long timenear to Squire Powell's office, a subject of constant specula-tion for the curious." . . . "As to tbe date upon the stone(1232), if it is a date, the theory of the writer is that thewhole of the inscription had been copied from an old Spanishdollar by a portion of De Soto's men, who had been sent outin various directions searching for gold. . . . That theyhad such old coins with them is evident from the statementof Mr. Hudgins, who had one in possession, fonnd not farfrom Valley Head, bearing the date 1114."' I think, how-ever, that this theory of Mr. Maxwell's is scarcely tenable,for it was subsequent to tbe discoveries of Columbus thatthe King of Spain assumed the title of King of the Tndies ;but I am not able myself to suggest any more probable ex-planation of tbe meaning of tbe figures.

I can see no reasonable objection to supposing that thestone may l)e indeed a relic of the expedition of De Sotoin 1540 ; and it appears to be not the only one remaining ofthat expedition. We are told that De Soto brought with himas far as Cofa (or Ocute as it is called by the anonyuiousPortuguese gentleman), a piece of ordnance, which he leftbehind at that place.^ Mr. Maxwell says that this cannon

; the orijjin of its lumie, its history, otc., p. 80.SQarcilaso de la Vega, La Florida del Iuca, B. lii., ch. 3.

49Ö AmeiHcan Antiquarian Society. [Oct.

was seen by Mr. T. L. Hudgins, of Tuskaloosa, in 1845,"after it had been burstcfi liy tiring it oif near Rockford, inCoosa county. It wjis found between the mouth of HatchetCreek and Wotumpka (or sounding water), on the Coosariver. He describes it as being of brass, about four and ahalf feet long and four inches in the bore."^ In his historyof Alabama, Pickett relates, upon the authority of a half-breed named George Stiggins, that one of the Indian tribesof that State had still in its possession a brass kettle-drumand several shields that had been handod down among thomfrom De Soto's time.^ In the yoar 1832 two silver crosseswere taken from a grave-mound at Coosawattee Old Town,Murray county, Georgia, associated with Indian remains.They are described and figured by Col. Charles C. Jones,who regards them as relics of De Soto's expedition, and whobelieves that the spot where they were found was the sitewhere he enoamped in June, 1540.^

I will take this opportunity to correct an error in regardto De Soto's expedition, into which Mr. John Gilmary Sheahas fallen in his chapter entitled "Ancient Florida," in theNarrative and Critical History of America.^ Ho says:" We are without the means, in any of the original sources,to determine without dispute the most northerly pointreached by Soto. He had evidently approached, but hadlearned nothing of, the Missouri river. Almost at the saftietime that Soto, with the naked, starving remnants of hisarmy, was at Pacaha, another Spanish force under Vasquezde Coronado, well handled and pcrfootly equipped, must, inJuly and August, l .Hl, have boon encamped so near that anIndian runner in a few days might have carried tidings be-tween them. Coronado actually heard of his countrymanand sent him a letter ; but his messenger fuilod to find Soto'sparty," The only authority adduced by Mr. Shea for this

a, t!t<!., ¡5. 18.of Alnbiuiui, by Albert J. PickctLvol. I., p. 20 (note).Report of the Smitliaoniau luatttution, lSSl, p. 619.

*Vol. Iv., p. 202.

1888.] The Alabama Stone. 491

statement in regard to Coronado is the Eelacion of Jara-millo. But there is no such statement to be found in Jara-millo's narrative. What he actually says is : " The general(Coronado) wrote a letter fco tho governor of Ilarahoi andQuivera, thinking that he was a Christian belonging to thelost army of Florida (evidently meaning De Solo's ex-pédition). This wo wore induced to believe l>y what thoIndian had fold us about his manner of government andpolicy." ßut Jaramillo goes on to say: " W e arrived atthe last village, which they told us was called Quivera. . . .We asked if there were any other villages on this side ofthe river Teucarea, and they replied that beside Quiverathere was only Harahei, which resembled it and was ocjuallylarge. The general had the chief and the Indians who in-habited Harahei summoned l)efore him. They came to thenumber of two hundred, all naked, with bows, etc." 'Tbus it appears that Mr. Shea has accepted as truth tlie lietold to Coronado by his Indian guide.

'Jariitnillo, Relación, p. ißO (Budiitigliara Smith's Colección de variosdocumentos) ; the Same, iu Piichcco's Itocmnentos Inéditos, toas, xiv., p. 313;trniislüted iii Teruitux-Compaii'.H Voyages, etc., ix., ;!7(i.

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