PREHISTORIC NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. 6l7 



laid amidsliips aloug tlie keel, notched to admit the frames, and above 

 it rests another still larger oaken block (about 12i feet long, a little 

 over 2 feet wide, and lj| feet thick in the middle, but decreasing toward 

 the ends, which are shaped like a fish-tail) grooved to admit the beams; 

 and it is further fixed to the beams by knees or crt»oked timberheads. 

 A little below the center rib a square hole, 3 feet in<'hes hmg and 11 

 inches wide is made in the upper block for the mast, which rests upon 

 tlie surface of the lower l)lock. A stump of the mast, about 2 feet 

 long, wns found standing in the hole, together with a stump support- 

 ing it, whi(;h is formed by a projecting- thick knot of wood, leaving a 

 S])ace between the mast and tlie side of the slot in the mast-block. The 

 intervening space was probibly filled with plugs. A little in front of 

 the mast there is a smaller hole, wliich probably acconimodated some 

 additional suppoit for the nuist. 



Mast I '.LOCK of Tune Ship. 



( Kl-.-lii I.. Il.ut^. •'•11, .• -I.t ^.•-.■l l..iin.l :.l Ttinr/' I-7L>, 1 



Just behind the mast llu' nnburnt bones of a man and of a horse 

 were found; there were also some colored glass beads, some ])ieces of 

 carved wood, sonu". clotli and the fragments of a saddh^., and a portion 

 of a snow skate. The inside of the vessel had been covered with a 

 layer of moss before the mound was thrown up over it. 



According to Mr. (lade. United States consul at Christiauia,^ "in 

 the southern end of the mound at the height of the gunwale and still 

 higher, traces of iron utensils were seen at many i)laces, but they 

 were so rusted away that there was hardly anything left but some 

 stripes of rust in the earth. Nothing of it could be preserved and it 

 was (udy in a few instances ])ossible to make out what it liad been. For 

 instan(!e, near the prow, at the eastern gunwale of the vessel, the han- 

 dle of a sword of the form used in the Viking period was clearly dis- 

 tinguishe<l; nearly o])posite on the western side the point of a spear 

 and the boss of a shield seem to have laid. Just where the prow nuist 

 have been lay a hmg, heavy lump of iron rust, apparently a fragment 

 of a rolled up coat of mail. On the western side of the gunwale about 

 oi)posite the mast there was a heap of horse bones, but so decayed that 

 only the teeth could be exlnuned in any way Avhole. They were ex- 

 amined by a veterinary surgeon, who declared that there must have 

 been the vSkeletons of at least tw(> horses, viz, of an older and a younger 

 aninuU. In that part of the mound was also found a little round bung 

 of oak, such as might be used for a barrel, and also several oaken 



■'The ancient vessel found in tlie Parisli of Time, Norway. Dedicated by the 

 translator to Commander Stc^pheii 15. Luce, U. S. Navy, in remembrance of the 

 United States i-orvette JunUUa\ visit to Norway in 1S71. Kristiania, 1872. 



