PICTS' HOUSES. 141 



Scandinavian " passage grave," as, for instance, the one repre- 

 sented in fig. 143, with any drawing (see fig. 141*) of an 

 Esquimaux snow house, without being struck with the great 

 similarity existing between them. 



Hut burial also occurs among several South American 

 tribes. 



Under these circumstances, without denying that in some 

 cases these chambered long barrows may have served as 

 ossuaries, there seems much probability in the view advocated 

 by Professor Nilsson, the venerable archaeologist of Sweden, 

 that these "Ganggraben" are a copy, a development, or an 

 adaptation, of the dwelling-house ; that the ancient inhabi- 

 tants of Scandinavia, unable to imagine a future altogether 

 different from the present, or a world quite unlike our own, 

 showed their respect and affection for the dead by burying 

 with them those things which in life they had valued most : 

 with women, their ornaments ; with warriors, their weapons. 

 They buried the house with its owner, and the grave was 

 literally the dwelling of the dead. When a great man died, 

 he was placed on his favourite seat, food and drink were 

 arranged before him, his weapons were placed by his side, 

 his house was closed, and the door covered up ; sometimes, 

 however, to be opened again when his wife or children joined 

 him in the land of spirits. 



It is just possible that the comparative rarity of chambered 

 tumuli in England and France may be connected with the 

 greater mildness of the climate, which did not necessitate 

 the use of underground "winter-houses;" or it may be an 

 indication of a difference in race. Further investigations 

 will, doubtless, decide this point. In the mean time we must 

 remember that the so-called " Picts' Houses" are abundant in 

 the northern parts of Great Britain. These curious dwellings 

 are " scarcely distinguishable from the larger tumuli ; but on 



