326 HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS. 



South of Europe, as shown by several of the drawings, 

 wherein are represented southern animals, such as the 

 Turtle, the Camel, the Rhinoceros. " That the ' Hallrist- 

 ningar' relate to history," he goes on to say, " must be 

 clear to the most casual observer, for one here sees the 

 whole occurrence portrayed, occasionally in a kind of 

 chronological order. No possible reason can be given 

 for the supposition hazarded by some, that their subject- 

 matter has been either invented or romanced. On the 

 contrary, it is quite clear that events and incidents have 

 been truly depicted by the artist after the manner of 

 the age, and that they are therefore to be looked on as 

 historical documents, and as such, constituting our earliest 

 written chronicles chronicles older than the Runic- 

 stones, and distinguished from them in this ; that the 

 latter give us the names without the occurrences, but 

 the former furnish us with the occurrences, and not the 

 names. The ' Ilallristningar ' have already been called by 

 me ' Sagas engraved in stone,' an expression I believe to 

 be well chosen, because they have one and the same 

 object ; viz., to perpetuate the exploits of distinguished 

 men. They treat of the heroes of the same people, and 

 are so far contemporaneous, that the Ilallristningar wen- 

 cut about the same time as a great part of the events 

 happened, which tradition afterwards romanced in the 

 written Sagas." 



But although M. Holmherg looks on the " llallristnin- 

 irnr" as historical documents, it would be idle to attempt 

 their regular interpretation : First, because the "Saua^" 

 relating to the same events and occurrences have, in the 

 course of ages, been forgotten, thus rendering it impossible 

 to identify names, dates, and plaees ; :md secondly, because, 

 amongst the symbolical figures, now pretty well under- 

 Mnoil. there are some so singularly placed (at St:uii,'en:is. 

 in Hohus-Liin, for instance, where a ship is seen to rest on 



