578 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1891. 



" lu this boat, as iu the (jakeu boat, the plankiug was tied to the ribs 

 by ropes passing- through the holes in the chimps, and the principle of 

 construction was the same; the great peculiarity of the fir boat being 

 the terminal prolongations of the bottom i)lank, which probably have 

 carried iron points — a dangerous weapon of attack, etiually fit for sink- 

 ing an enemy's vessel or holding it firm while being boarded. 



"As in the oaken boat the l)()ttom was covered by a inat of wicker- 

 work. In several places the timber had cracked, and been repaired l)y 

 patches of wood. On the inner surface there are vestiges of the calk- 

 ing material, consisting of woven stuff, and a pitchy kind of substance 

 similar to that used for fixing the featliers on arrows. 



Fig. 106. 

 Fixed Oar Clamp in Nydam Boat. 



(Copie.l from r. F.neleliiuJt, '• n.-i,ii.;irk ii. the Early Iron Age.") 



"The boats here described I considei- to have been mere rowing boats, 

 not destined to carry i^ails, and in forming this opinion I rely pi'incipally 

 on the fact that neither masts nor any signs of rigging have been dis- 

 covered, nor any ari-angements in the boat for fixing the necessary 

 ropes. It is true that in the middle of the bottom plank of the oak 

 boat, as well as of the fir boat, there is a hole of about 1^ inches diam- 

 eter; but these holes are too small to have carried masts, and may have 

 served for letting out water when the l)oats were hauled on shore, as 

 was probably the case at the beginning of the winter. 



"As I have stated before, the oak boat had been intentionally sunk 

 by means of large holes cut in one of its sides below watermark; at the 

 same time it had been caused to lean over on that side whicli was 

 nearest the shore, that is, on the northeastern side. Beside this, the 

 stemposts had in course of time detached themselves from the bottom 

 plank leaving a large opening at each end. All these circumstances 

 had necessarily caused a great part of the contents of the boat to float 

 or drift out of it. But a part remained, and showed in several respects 

 an intentional arrangement, objects of the same kind being accumulated 

 into heaps at particular idaces." 



In Nydam Roman denari were discovered, em])racing the period of 

 from 09 to 217 of our era, ami of the following emperors and empresses: 

 Nitellius (1), Hadrian (1), Antoninus Pius (10), Faustina the Elder (4), 

 Marcus Aurelius (7), Faustina the Younger (1), Lncius Verus (-J), Lu- 

 cilla (2), Commodus (5), and Macrinus (1). The latest of these coins 

 was minted in A. d. 217.* 



'Obs: Laureate head, Imp[erator] C[aiu8] M[arcu8] Opel[ius] Sov[erus], Macri- 

 nins An<r[u8tns], Rev. P()nt[ifex], Max[imns Tr[il)unitia], P[otc.state], C()[n].s[al], 

 I'l :i1,er] P[atrue]. Jiipitor stamliiig, a .spear in his left haud, and the -thunderbolt 

 ]]) liis ritjht. 



