THE INSTINCT OF IMMORTALITY. 287 



land of death, just as among the ancient Scythians 

 and some modern Americans, the warrior's horse was 

 slain to bear him on his long journey. The dogs, 

 killed immediately after death, usually formed a part 

 of the funeral feast, but this did not conflict with the 

 idea that the spirits of these sagacious animals might 

 guide the shade to its final abode. Cranz, a Green- 

 land missionary, relates that it is a practice with the 

 people of that forlorn region to place the head of a 

 dog in the tomb of a child, " in order that the soul 

 of the dog, which can always find its way home, may 

 show the helpless infant the way to the country of 

 souls." Some of the arctic navigators who have 

 opened Esquimaux graves confirm the statement of 

 the missionary. Nilsson quotes this touching instance 

 of care for the soul of the deceased child in illustration 

 of the fact that skulls of dogs occur in ancient burial- 

 mounds of the Stone age in Sweden, which in many 

 other respects resemble the burial-places of the Green- 

 landers. A similar association of remains of the dog 

 with those of man has been found in a pre-historic 

 Irish tumulus,* and in Peru the skeleton of the same 

 faithful friend of man is sometimes found in the family 

 sepulchre. 



It has been remarked with reference to some 

 European interments, that flint implements and wea- 

 pons appear to have been buried with the dead, even 

 after the close of the Stone age. This may be ex- 

 plained by the superstitious reverence which came to 

 * Knock Maraidhe, Dublin. 



