124 APPENDIX. 



as well as the size of the mound was, in Peru, a sure indication of the state and 

 power of the dead. Such was the case among the ancients. Beowulf requests 

 that his people may raise a barrow over him proportionate in size to the respect 

 entertained for his memory : 



" Old of life, he spake a whole multitude of words, and commanded me to greet 

 you ; he bade that ye should make, according to the deeds of your friend, on the 

 place of the funeral pile, the lofty barrow, large and famous, even as he was of men 

 the most worthy warrior." — (^Beowulf, I., 6183.) 



In the subsequent burial of Beowulf, the burning of the body, the sacrifices, the 

 games, the songs and orations in praise of the dead and in commemoration of his 

 deeds, we have a vivid picture of the funeral customs of the olden time, — customs 

 not peculiar to the old Continent, but prevailing among the nations of the New 

 World, and probably attending the burials of the ancient people whose monuments 

 we are investigating. Beowulf's people carry into effect his desire, and the poem 

 ends with this description of his interment : — 



" For him then prepared the people of the Geats a funeral pile upon the earth, 

 strong, hung round with helmets, with war-boards (shields), and with bright 

 byrnies, as he had requested. The heroes, weeping, then laid down in the midst 

 the famous chieftain, their dear lord. Then began on the hill the mightiest of 

 fu neral fires the warriors to awake : the wood-smoke rose aloft dark from the fire ; 

 noisily it went, mingled with weeping. The mixture of the wind lay on till it the 

 bone-house [body] had broken, hot in his breast. Sad in mind, sorry in mood, 

 they mourned the death of their lord. * * * Made then the people of the 

 Westerns a mound over the sea; it was high and broad, by the sailors over the 

 waves to be seen afar. And they built up, during ten days, the beacon of the 

 war-renowned, the [king] of swords. They surrounded it with a wall, in the most 

 honorable manner that wise men could desire. They put into the mound rings and 

 bright gems, all such ornaments as the fierce-minded men had before taken from the 

 hoard : they suffered the earth to hold the treasures of warriors, gold on the sand ; 

 there it yet remaineth, as useless to men as it was of old. Then round the mound 

 rode of beasts of war, of nobles, a troop, twelve in all ; they would speak about the 

 king, they would call him to mind, relate the song of words, speak themselves ; they 

 praised his valor, and his deeds of bravery they judged with honor, as it is fitting 

 that a man his friendly lord should extol, should love him in his soul, when he must 

 depart from his body to become valueless. Thus mourned the people of the Geats, 

 his domestic comrades, their dear lord ; they said that he was of the kings of the 

 world the mildest of men and the most gentle, the most gracious to his people, 

 and the most jealous of glory." — (^Beowulf, v. 6268.) 



