88 RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN THE CHAMBERED TUMULI 



American Indians are said, even until within the last few 

 years, to have cherished a friendly feeling for the French, 

 because, in the time of their supremacy, they had at least 

 this one great merit, that they never disturbed the resting- 

 places of the dead. 



Some of the oldest tumuli of Scandinavia are large mounds, 

 containing a passage, formed by great blocks of stone, almost 

 always opening towards the south or east, never to the 

 north, and leading into . a great central chamber, round 

 which the dead sit. At Goldhavn, for instance, in the year 

 1830, a grave (if so it can be called) of this kind was opened, 

 and numerous skeletons were found, sitting on a low seat 

 round the walls, each with his weapons and ornaments by 

 his side. Now, the dwellings used by Arctic nations the 

 "winter-houses" of the Esquimaux and Greenlanders, the 

 "Yurts" of the Siberians correspond closely with these 

 " Granggraben " or "Passage graves." The Siberian Yurt, 

 for instance, as described by Erman, consists of a central 

 chamber, sunk a little in the ground, and, in the absence 

 of great stones, formed of timber, while earth is heaped up 

 on the roof and against the sides, reducing it to the form of 

 a mound. The opening is on the south, and a small hole 

 for a window is sometimes left >on the east side. Instead of 

 glass, a plate of ice is used ; it is at first a foot thick, and 

 four or five generally last through the winter. The fireplace 

 is opposite the entrance; and round the sides of the room, 

 against the walls, "the floor is raised for a width of about 

 six feet, and on this elevated part, the inmates slept at night, 

 and sat at work by day." 



Captain Cook gives a very similar description of the 

 winter habitations used by the Tschutski, in the extreme 

 north-east of Asia. They are, he says,* "exactly like a 

 vault, the floor of which is sunk a little below the surface of 



* Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Tol. ii., p. 450. See also vol. iii., p. 374. 



