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af det fremkjørte tømmer, som tilhuggedes paa stedet,
hvad der maa kunne sluttes af den mængde flis og smaa
træstykker, som fandtes. Saasnart kammeret var fær-
digt, blev manden, i sin bedste dragt og omgjordet med
vaaben, kjørt paa den fundne slæde af sine heste til
stedet og gjennem en midlertidig levnet aabning i kam-
meret indlagt paa en seng i dette, som derefter lukkedes
og blev dækket med never. Dernæst blev de øvrige
gjenstande, som havde tilhørt manden, nedlagt i skibets
andre rum, men først efterat mange, deriblandt slæden,
vare revne i stykker; af dyr fik dog kun paafuglen,
maaske som hans yndling og til tegn paa hans uden-
landstog, en plads i skibet. Hans øvrige dyr, heste og
hunde, bleve derimod, efterat være dræbte, henlagte tæt
skibets
kammeret, fyldt med blaaler, som ovenpaa fik et lag af
ved begge sider, og hele fartejet, undtagen
mose*) og hasselgrene. Til slutning kastedes haugen
op over det hele.
Hertil kan endnu føjes et par bemerkninger vedkom-
mende begravelsen. Det kunde saaledes af de foran
(s. 52) omtalte jernbeslag paa hestenes hover vise sig, at
begravelsen er foregaaet om vinteren, skjønt der neppe
tør lægges synderlig vegt derpaa. Med større grund
kan det vistnok formodes, at indlæggelsen i skibet af den
oven (S. 41, 43) nævnte træflis har havt en bestemt hen-
sigt. Dog kunde man derved selvfølgelig ikke, saaledes
som ved blaaleren, have tænkt paa at bevare fartøjet og
*) Da beskaffenheden af denne kan have interesse for botanikere, hid-
sættes hvad hr. læge og kgl. fuldmægtig Fr. Kiær har havt den
godhed at meddele mig, efierat han har undersøgt en større mengde
af de fundne moser. »Lerklumperne, hvori de forekom, bleve ud-
blødte og udvaskede, hvorpaa jeg undersøgte de rensede moser.
Der fandtes kun 2 arter, nemlig: Climacium dendroides Web. & Mohr,
Hylocomium squarrosum Br. Eur., begge uden frugt ; den førstnævnte
sparsomt, den sidstnævnte i stor mængde. Professor Lindberg i
Helsingfors har ogsaa undersøgt nogle af mig sendte exemplarer af
disse 2 moser og er kommen til samme resultat som jeg. Begge
disse arter forekomme ogsaa nu for tiden hyppig i Norge paa fug-
tige steder; især har jeg fundet dem paa uopdyrkede enge. Begge
arter havde antaget en mørkere, brunere farve, end de nu have i
frisk tilstand, men ellers vare de taalelig godt konserverede, saa at
man under mikroskopet kunde se de fine cellevægge vel vedlige-
holdte, ligesom bladenes form var karakteristisk for arterne.»
69
sepulchral chamber was then erected of the timber
driven thither, and, as is manifest from the chips
and small pieces of wood discovered, there also
hewn. When the chamber was fully prepared, the
corpse of its intended tenant arrayed in its state-attire,
and begirt with its arms was drawn, in the sledge dis-
covered, to the ground, introduced to the chamber through
an opening temporarily left for that end, and laid on
its couch therein. The opening was then permanently
closed, flakes of birch-bark were placed against it, and,
finally, the other articles, which had all belonged to the
deceased, were laid in the remaining unoccupied space
of the vessel, but not until many of them and specially
the sledge had been broken up. Of the animals only
the peacock, probably a favourite of the deceased and as
a memento of his foreign expeditions, was placed within
the vessel. The rest of his animals, horses and dogs,
were also slain but their bodies laid close on each side
of the ship, and its entire hold, — the sepulchral cham-
ber alone excepted, — filled up with the blueclay, whose
surface was, in its turn, covered with a layer of moss*)
and hazelbranches, the tumulus piled up over-all, and
there was the end.
Two remarks may still be added concerning the
sepulture. From the before mentioned (conf. pag. 52)
character of the iron shoes of the horses, it might be
inferred, that this burial took place in the winter season,
but on this point scarcely any particular stress can be
laid.
that the chips, and other wood-offal found (conf. pag.
It might, however, on sure grounds be presumed
41, 43), were not laid there without some definite intention.
But, as a matter of course, the intention could not, as
in the instance of the blue clay, have been the pre-
servation of the vessel’s fabric itself, and of the
*) Since a description of these mosses may be interesting to botanists,
that, obligingly communicated by the Physician and Royal «Fuld-
mægtig» M. Fr. Kiær, after examination of a considerable quantity,
is here submitted. «After the clay clods in which these mosses were
embedded had been I there-
And
they were found to consist of but two species; viz: Climacium den-
droides Web. & Mohr and Hylocomium squarrosum Br. Eur.; both
moistened and thoroughly washed,
upon proceeded to examine the cleansed plants themselves.
without fruit. The firstnamed was found in sparse, the latter in
tolerably large proportion. Professor Lindberg, of Helsingfors,
has also examined some specimens of these mosses forwarded to
him by myself, and has arrived at the same result. Both species
occur frequently in Norway at the present day on swampy ground,
Both
fresh condition,
and particularly on uncultivated grassland. had acquired a
hue than that of their but
were, otherwise in good preservation, so much so indeed that, when
darker -and_ browner
placed under the microscope, one could see the fine partitions of
and the form of the
characteristic for the species.»
the cells well preserved, leaves was alsa
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