1858.] Buddhism and Odinism. 61 



taining a brown acrid fluid, and fragments of leaves and of bark 

 written over with the Indo-Bactrian characters. The contents of 

 haugs include finely powdered earth, brownish sand, ocherous 

 earth, and vases or urns of stone, iron, copper and wood, but 

 rarely of glass, gold* or silver; containing gold coins, fragments 

 of bones, ashes, ornaments, and of gold, silver or bronze. Various 

 resinous and fatty matters, ingots and foils of gold, pearls, frag- 

 ments of wood and bark, once a bit of birch wood, once a glass 

 vase containing a brown rancid fluid, and at another time a glass 

 phial containing traces of a fluid, have also been observed among the 

 contents of haugs. Among the articles most common in topes are 

 earthen lamps, which seem to have formed one of the principal 

 offerings with the Buddhists to the manes of their ancestors. 

 They have never been met with in the haugs, where their place is 

 supplied by fragments of swords and spears. " This difference is 

 owing, no doubt, to the bellicose propensity of the people among 

 whom the haugs were erected." The coins found in the haugs are 

 inferior in execution to those found in the topes, but they bear a 

 strong resemblance to the mintage of Azes and of his successors, 

 which have been found in abundance in the topes of Afghanistan. 



Buddhist coins have generally a mystic cross (swastika) im- 

 printed on them. The emblem is held in high veneration, and the 

 Hindus have adopted it " to give to their coins, inscriptions and 

 ceremonials a sign of benediction and happy augury," although 

 they have no distinct conception of the manner in which it is to 

 produce the beneficial results they seek. In the Bracteates found 

 in Scandinavia, whether within haugs or elsewhere, we find this 

 mystic symbol reproduced in all its entirety ; and ancient sepul- 

 chral stones found in the cemetery at Gjerde in the parish of Etne, 

 diocese of Bergen, and at Suede in the parish of Skeftuna, pro- 

 vince of Upland, shew it with but slight variation. M. Mionnet 

 notices this cross as a monogram of ancient Gaul, where it must have 

 travelled with the religion of Odin before the advent of Jesus Christ. 

 It is uncertain if the phallic worship had ever been transported to 

 Scandinavia, but some sacred stones found in haugs admit of a very 

 close comparison with the linga of India ; and the jarhanasteen has 

 * Many gold vases are said to have been found in Denmark. 



