The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1891-10-02
SHIPS AS BURIAL PLACES.
A Curious Scandinavian. Method Of Dis
posing OF the Dead.

A Curious Scandinavian. Method Of Dis
80 posing OF the Dead.
Burial ships have so, far been dis
covered to the number Of a dozen in.
Sweden and Norway. The bodies laid
IN them burned or unburned. were
equipped with pathetic care. Besides
being deliberately armed. and adorned,
they had placed at their disposal
means of employment and diversion,
such as writing tablets. forging tools,
whetting stones. scissors, cooking
utensils, chessmen, draughtsmen and
dice. In one of nine boats. containing
as many bodies, disinterred in the
church yard of Wendell in Uppland,
weapons and implements were as
ISOLATED with the remains of three
horses, three dogs, a COW, pig, ram,
eve and goose. Another sheltered
the bones of goose falcon rood
owl and crane.
The inference seems justified that
all these birds were domesticated.
Inside the ribs of the celebrated Cox
stadt ship some peacocks' feathers lay
scattered with fragments of gold-em-
broidered silken stuff; and the tumu-
lus near Sandefiord. from which it was
unearthed 1880, contained the skele-
tons OF at least twelve horses and six
dogs. But the treasures of the sepul-
chral chamber amidships had long ago
fallen prey to some of the numerous
and naneless thieves who
Ransacked the graves of warriors old,
Their falchions wrenched from the corpses'
hold.
The vessel itself, which is. of oak,
clinker-built and seventy-five feet.
long, is preserved in the Archaeological
Museum at Christiauia.
Life in the North, however funda-
mentally homely, was attended in.
those days by accessories of consider
able splendor. Gastronomic refine
ments were indeed unknown. Boiled
veal counted as the s'best of dainties;''
roast pork, with wheaton bread, might
also be provided for favored guests, in
default of which delicacies curds and
buttermilk were welcome, and the bill
OF fare during royal visit comprised,
on alternate days, fish and milk, meat
such simple repasts were often gay
with embroidered cloths and radiant
with gilded vessels, dainty glass beak-
ers and repousse silver and bronze
drinking horns. They were surround
ed, too, by gorgeously clad jewellers.
Scarlet cloaks, lined with fur and Sc
cured with magnificent fibula Of
bronze inlaid with silver or of silver
gilt diversified with filigree work,
garnets or walrus ivy, were flung over
silken tunics or kirtles made of a kind
of velvet called .'pell."
These were belted with girdles fine
ly wrought of precious metals; gold
rings encircling legs, arms and fingers;
silk caps adorned with lace, covered.
the head; shoes were of leather,
covered with beaten gold and stitched
with silk; gold band like diadem,
confined tawny and profuse locks f1ow-.
ing down to the shoulders. We hear,
besides, of gloves made soft with down,
of suits of 'many-colored English
cloth, rain and dust cloaks, and of
fur-lined mantles with golden neck
straps. Sigurd the Jarl figures in St.
Oiaf's saga as clad in Ia blue kirtle
and blue hose high shoes laced around
his legs, a gray cloak and gray
broad brimmed hat and hood over
his face, staff in his hand, with
gilt silver mounting at the upper end,
from which silver ring hung
Edinburgh Review.