I am not in a position to throw the smallest doubt upon the statement that the mass of stones in the form of a tower, ivy and moss covered, and evidently the work of human hands, was not built by the hardy Norsemen hundreds of years before the arrival of Columbus. There are, moreover, people who declare that the erection is due to a British governor of the colony, when it was more prosperous as a commercial resort, though not so fashionable as it is at present. But American antiquaries take a great pleasure in propping up the proofs which have been adduced of Scandinavian enterprise and discovery on the continent, many centuries before Vespuccius, Columbus, and the English navigators lived. We dined on the evening of the 27th at the house of Mr. Shattock, a gentleman of New York, who had assembled a party of very pleasant people to meet the Duke, and kindly hastened his dinner-hour to suit our convenience, as we were obliged to go on board the Fall River boat, which called at 9.30 P.M. to take up passengers for the Empire City. There was some difficulty about getting cabins or state rooms as they are called, but "Uncle Sam," who came from New York to consort with us quietly, applied himself diligently to telegraph wires, telephones, and the like, and when the great steamer came alongside the wharf our dormitories were ready. The night was calm and fine. There was an excellent band, quite worthy of being called an orchestra, on board, which played to the delight of a large audience till it was bed-time. As a "sight" for a foreigner, nothing could be more striking than the vast saloon, brilliantly illuminated, with hundreds of people on sofas, chairs, and benches, reading or conversing in the intervals of the music, and presenting infinite varieties of type and class, yet all so orderly and well-behaved; and if you moved quietly through the crowd, your ear caught many strange languages interpolating the American speech--German, French, Polish, Russian, Italian, and, perhaps the natives would say, British. There is some care observed in the locking up of cabins, and I believe there are detectives and police on board the boats; but it is said they do not look after the morals of the passengers, and concern themselves only with vested interests in portable property. There was no sea on, and the only motion was caused by the beating of the paddles and the throbbing of the engine, and early in the morning of the next day we were at our quarters in our comfortable hotel in the Fifth Avenue.