G. GENERAL NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGY. 225 



that character, nothing of stone having been discovered. 22 

 A, March 9,1872,239. 



BRITISH STONE IMPLEMENTS. 



A very important scientific work has just issued from the 

 press in England, " The Ancient Stone Implements, Weapons, 

 and Ornaments of Great Britain," by Mr. John Evans, F.R.S., 

 Honorary Secretary to the Geological Society of London, one 

 of the first authorities in every thing relating to prehistoric 

 archaeology. It contains a complete history of all finds of 

 this description yet made in Great Britain. 



DISCOVERY OF A VIKING BOAT IN NORWAY. 



It is well known from Scandinavian traditions, as also from 

 the evidence of the sagas, that during the last centuries of 

 paganism, constituting the Viking period, or the earlier Iron 

 Age (700 to 1000 B.C.), deceased sailors were frequently 

 buried in their boats, and a tumulus heaped over them. This 

 has been verified by the occasional discovery, in Norway 

 and Sweden, of tumuli containing boats, which, however, in 

 nearly every instance, were so much decayed as to furnish 

 very little information in regard to their mode of construc- 

 tion. 



Quite recently, in excavating a tumulus in the parish of 

 Time, near the town of Fredriksstad, the timbers of a boat 

 were brought to light, and this fact being communicated to 

 the Society for the Preservation of Norwegian Antiquities, 

 the disinterment was prosecuted with the greatest caution. 

 The lowest layer of the tumulus proved to consist of stiff* 

 potters' clay, and the upper of different kinds of earth. The 

 portion of the vessel imbedded in the clay was preserved al- 

 most perfectly, that above it being almost entirely decayed. 

 The central portion was in the best condition, as there the 

 clay was thickest, the extremities being considerably injured. 

 On removing the surrounding earth the remaining timber 

 proved to be quite firm and hard, most of the nails being un- 

 damaged and still holding their places. The boat was clink- 

 er-built, of oak, and put together with iron nails ; only the 

 ribs and the wooden nails found in some places were made 

 of fir. The keel, which consists of a single piece of wood in 

 good preservation, is forty-three and a half feet in length, and 



K2 



