228 DANISH TUMULI. 



rence for the dead, which have so long protected them from 

 desecration, is gradually becoming weaker; and it is esti- 

 mated that not a day passes without witnessing the destruc- 

 tion of one or more of these tumuli, and the loss of some, 

 perhaps almost irrecoverable, link in the history of the human 

 race. 



Many of these barrows, indeed, contain in themselves a 

 small collection of antiquities, and the whole country may 

 even be considered as a museum on a great scale. The peat 

 bogs, which occupy so large an area, may almost be said to 

 swarm with antiquities, and Professor Steenstrup estimates 

 that, on an average, every column of peat three feet square 

 contains some specimen of ancient workmanship. All these 

 advantages and opportunities, however, might have been 

 thrown away, but for the genius and perseverance of Pro- 

 fessor Thomsen, who may fairly be said to have created the 

 Museum over which he so long and so worthily presided. 



In addition to the objects collected from the tumuli and 

 the peats bogs, and to those which have been found from time 

 to time scattered at random in the soil, the Museum of 

 Northern Antiquities contains an immense collection of spe- 

 cimens from some very interesting shell-mounds, which are 

 known at Denmark under the name of " Kjbkkenmb'ddings," 

 and were long supposed to be raised beaches, like those which 

 are found at so many points along our own shores. True 

 raised beaches, however, necessarily contain a variety of 

 species ; the individuals are of different ages, and the shells 

 are, of course, mixed with a considerable quantity of sand and 

 gravel. But it was observed, in the first instance, I believe, 

 by Professor Steenstrup, that in these supposed beaches, the 

 shells belonged entirely to full-grown, or to nearly full-grown, 

 individuals ; that they consisted of four species which do not 

 live together, nor require the same conditions, and would not, 

 therefore, be found together alone in a natural deposit ; and, 



