The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1880-12-08
THE OLD SEA KINGS.
The Fierce Norsemen who for Centuries
T'errorized Europe-A Vikings
Tomb.

Upon the southwestern coast of a NorWe-
gian ford which penetrates inland as far as
ChTistiana, there has lain for centuries past,
between mountains and sea, a certain tumu-
lus known in the country round as Kongsaug
or the Kings Hill. In the Dark Ages, when
kings were plentiful in Scandinavia, and ev-
cry chief fought, like Hal O. the Wynd, s'for
his own hand" tradition tells us that some
mighty monarch was buried beneath that
huge turf-covered mound, one hundred and
fifty feet in diameter, and it has long been
held sacred to his memory. But the other
day, for the first time as it seemed, some in
%quisitive peasants ventured to explore those
hidden treasures which their fOrefathers had
reyerenced. Their search was richly reward
ed; for after a few months of patient labor,
under the direction of a learned antiquary,
there was revealed to human eyes a large and
we'll preserved Viking war-ship, which had
been hidden from the light OF day for more
than a thousand years! This characteristic
tomb-his familiar home in life-the IN
known Soaking had evidently chosen for his
last resting-place; and in it he wished to lie,
his horse and hounds near, his treasures
around him, lulled by the tapping Of the
waves, which at that time must have daily
washed the base of his strange sepulchre.
But the restless chief, even in death, found no
repose; the spoiler was spoiled in his turn,
the tomb ri1ed of its ill-gotten wealth; and
now in the funeral chamber upon deck a few
human bones, some shreds Of brocade, and
sundry equipments in silver, bronze and lead,
for both horse and man, are the sole remain
ing relics Of the Viking and his buried trea-
sures.
The ship, we are told, is the largest Of its
kind yet discovered. It measures seventy
four feet between stem and stern, and is six
teen feet broad amidships. The stiff clay,
earth and sand in which it was imbedded
have preserved it from destruction; and even
the black and yellow colOring Of the ships
bows and sides has survived the rayages Of
ten centuries. Two or three small boats of
elegant shape were found il the stem Of the
vessel, and with them a quantity Of oars care
fully formed, and in a few cases ornamented
WILL CdLYluSSs Il udACACL udlluH 44OuQ tlC
earlier Iron Age, and a few cooking utensils
in copper and iron, with some wooden drink
ing cups, also remain in good preservation.
The belt of shields which, according to Vik-
ing custom, once adorned the sides of the
vessel. exists almost entire. It was formerly
supposed that these shields served as ram
part to resist the shock of the waves, but the
thinness of wooden surface in the specimens
found has now convinced antiquarians that
they were merely ornamental. This strange
treasure-troVe is an interesting and suggestive
relic of a most interesting race, and links US
oddly with the old days Of daring and TO
nance. While that ship rode upon the
Northern seas more than a thousand years
ago, Charlemagne and his paladins were
probably struggling with the Saracens in Py-
renean passes, or fighting his way in Italy TO
his imperial crown. Our own wise Alfred
may have been harping in the Danish camp,
and absently watching the cakes Of the COW
herds wife amid patriotic dreams for his
country's welfare.
The history Of the dead warrior once en-
o mbed in it is absolutely unknown. Did he
swoop with chivalrous Rollo upon the sunny
Neustrian ~coastsE? or was he one Of those
who answered that call Of Haestan's ivory
horn, which Saxons named ''the Danish
thunder 2" The deserted sepulchre gives no
answer to cur questioning. The very name
of its silent occupant has passed out Of mem
DRY. But at least we may conclude that our
unknown Viking was q gallant warrior,
brought up in fleets and camps, amid storm,
battle and bloodshed, to a stern contempt Of
hardship and danger; one who, perhaps,
like many another Morse pirate of those
days, chad never slept under a house-roof,
nor emptied q cup by the domestic hearth
And when the Sea-king's last fight had been
fought out, we can picture the mourning and
lamentation among his followers on that
gloomy day when the gallant ship was drawn
up on to the level shore, a funeral chamber
erected upon deck, the chief laid therein,
with his slain horse and hounds beside him.
and all slowly hidden from sight beneath the
heaped-up earth and sand on the shore, |
hard by the sea still, that when his call came
the sleeping warrior might start up and
launch forth at once upon the Well-1oved wa
ters, to seek bis haven Of endless happiness
in the halls of Odin.
In very early times, the Norsemen, like
other peoples descended from the old Teuton-
ic or Gothic tribes, burned their dead, and
I.-~- IL -..- VI 81 ~ 8 /