here were points about this exhumed vessel
which indicated retrogression rather than progress on the part of
modern builders of sea-going craft. The bent timbers on the inside
are of natural growth, the sheathing boards are an inch and a half in
thickness, firmly riveted, the iron bolts clinched on either end.
Near the gunwales the bolts are of oak. The planking slightly
overlaps, being bevelled for the purpose; that is, the hull is what
we technically call clinker-built, and would probably draw about four
feet of water in a sea-going trim. The bow and stern are of the same
pointed shape, and rise a considerable distance above the waist,
giving the vessel what sailors term a deep sheer inboard.

The burial of this ship so many centuries ago was simply in
accordance with the custom of those days. When any great sea-king
perished, he was enclosed in the cabin of his galley, and either sunk
in the ocean or buried with his vessel and all of its war-like
appointments upon the nearest suitable spot of land. In this
instance, as has been intimated, weapons of war were buried with the
deceased, just as our Indian tribes of western America do to this
day. Tombs dating much farther back than the period when this
sepulchral ship was buried have been opened in both Norway and
Sweden, showing that the dead were sometimes burned and sometimes
buried in coffins. The cinerary urns were usually found to have been
either of terra-cotta or of bronze,--seldom, however, of the latter
material. In these tombs trinkets and weapons were also discovered,
with the skeletons of horses and other domestic animals. To the
period of these burials belong the earliest Runic inscriptions,
differing materially from those which were in use a few centuries
later. One may believe much or little of the extravagant stories
handed down by tradition concerning these ancient Scandinavians, but
certainly we have tangible evidence in these tombs that some of the
legends are literally true. We are told that when a chieftain died in
battle, not only were his war-horse, his gold and silver plate, and
his money placed upon his funeral pyre, but that a guard of honor
from among his followers slew themselves, that he might enter the
sacred halls of Odin properly attended. The more elevated the chief
the larger was the number who must sacrifice themselves as his escort
to the land of bliss. So infinite was the reliance of the Heathen
horde in their strange faith, that,