Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-12-27
A NORSEMEN STORY.
THE VIKINGS OF OLD INFERRED
THEIR DEAD IN SHIPS.


Many Respects the Grecian Story of In
vulnerable Achilles.
From the ancient Scandinavian literature
we learn a great deal that is interesting
about the customs and manner OF living of
the hardy Norsemen of old. There has
been thus preserved curious story relat-
ing to the origin of ship burial Those
bold vikings, being rather more at home
on the water than on land, were commonly
inferred in mounds together with their YES
sells, the great seagoing boat sometimes
serving as kind of sarcophagus for con-
tanning many corpses.
The model of the viking ship now on
exhibition in the National museum is
restored reproduction on a small scale of a
big vessel that was found some wears ago
at Gokstad, in Norway. 1t was dug out of
mound, which had been known for
centuries rs the Kings mound, because Of
tradition to the effect that royal per-
sonage had been inferred there with all
his treasures. 1t was in the expectation of
securing the latter that the mound was
first opened by robbers, who carried away
great deal that would have been of
interest to science and the world.
The story | speak of refers to the age of
peopled by a race of gods, whose king was
Odin. Odin and his wife, Freya, had two
sons, Bladder and Thor. Balder was beauti-
full and gentle and was beloved by the
gods, who looked to his dreams for guild
ance. He had, however, one enemy, Loki,
the evil god. One night Bladder in a dream
heard voice telling him that his life was
in danger, and in the morning he told his
mother of it. Freya was greatly worried,
and going to all things animal, mineral
and vegetable she exacted of them an oath
that they would not harm Bladder.
While on her mission Freya came to one
little plant, the mistletoe, which appeared
to be incapable of working harm, and thus
no oath was exacted of it. When Freya
had finished her task she returned home
and told Balder and his friends what she
had done, and the gods in their plays often
amused themselves by shooting arrows or
throwing stones at his invulnerable body
to see them swerye aside just before reach
ing him. Loki, however. being determined
to do Balder harm, went to Freya disguised
as an old woman, and learned from her the
only thing that might be employed in in
juring his enemy. Then hurrying away
he found the little mistletoe, and carving
it into an arrow returned 10 the spot where
the gods amused themselves shooting at
Baldr Apart from the crowd stood Holder,
the blind, and approaching him Loki in
duced him to shoot the arrow at Balder,
who fell shot through the heart.
Odin mourned three days, and then he
ordered that Balder's body be carried to
the seashore and be placed upon the ship
Stringholmi, together with his armor,
splendid clothes, and his horse, with all its
trappings. The ship was launched, and
fire from the friction of the rollers burned
it, together with it's contents, to ashes.
And Odiu ordered that ell dead men should
be burned upon their ships, together with
all their property, the remains TO be col
lected and covered with n mound Of earth.
OF crematories of this kind the ship
grave at Mokklebyst, Norway, affords an
excellent illustration. The m-Ind is To-
Gated in plain. in full view of the sea
over which the buried ship used to bound.
All around the mound is ditch twelve
feet wide and three feet deep, which, on
the south and west, is traversed by bridge
like dam. The interior ca the mound pre-
sents two layers-one of bone splinters in
termiXed with soil and cinderS, and the
other consisting of cinders and burned re-
mains. Over this a number of objects were
strewn which showed that here a ship had
been hauled ashore and gayly decorated
with shields around its bulwarks and with
arms and other articles of war piled up,
serving thus as the funeral pyre of its com
mander.
The remains in this instance having
been consumed they were collected in a
fiat bronze vessel, together with some per-
sonal property Of the owner, consisting of
two combs, checker men, dice and arrow
heads. This receptacle holding the re-
mains of the dead chief was placed in an
excavation at the bottom of the mound.
Above it 4 number Of articles were piled.
In an Unframed Goatskin were found the
unburned remains OF animal bones, posi-
bly, the portion assigned to the dead man
from the funeral feast for his long jour
ney to Walhalla. The bottom of the
mound was covered with hundreds of
nails, mOuntings, mast rings, anchors,
shields and other things.
In another kind of Morse burial the body
was placed in the ship without being
burned, the entire vessel being covered
with earth so as to form u large mound.
The best known example OF this style Of
interment is afforded by the buried ship at
Gokstad. An excavation of this mound,
conducted with great care by opening a
passageway through the middle, rewarded
the scientific explorers by revealing an
entire ship eighty feet in length. In the
middle of the shipwas a large grave cham
Der of wood in the form of span roof with
gable, in which the remains Of the dead
were deposited. The spot for the mound
was required to have free view of the
sea.
After digging away the soil from the
place chosen the ship was drawn thither
by horses and lowered with it's stem sea-
ward into the excavation, being stale on
each side with struts. The sepulchral
chamber was then built. When it was
ready the corpse, arrayed in state attire
and grit with arms, was drawn to the
ground, introduced into the chamber
through an opening temporarily left for
that purpose and laid on a couch within.
The opening was then permanently closed.
George II. Boomer in Washington Star
Swift Was Ounce at School.
Not only philosophers and divines, but
q 81