weapons of iron, which are known to have been found in heathen graves; while, on the other hand, it exhibits several hundred swords and daggers of the bronze-period. If it should be objected that the soil of Denmark may destroy objects of iron sooner than that of Norway and Sweden, it must be observed that Wendish weapons of iron are frequently discovered in heathen graves in Mecklenburg, the soil of which country is similarly constituted to that of Denmark. It must also be remarked that not only the iron weapons but also the other antiquities of the iron-period, such as brass brooches, beads, and ornaments of stone and glass, are exceedingly scarce in Denmark, so that if it be admitted that the iron weapons have been corroded, we should have full reason to expect to find the ornaments of brass, stone, and glass, remaining. It has also been maintained that iron from its costliness and value was not deposited in graves, as was the case with bronze. But was not bronze as costly, and in fact more so, since it consisted of two metals melted together, one of which, tin, could not have been procured at any place nearer than England. It is also well known that while no copper exists here, the soil of Denmark affords, in single spots, iron ore, which the water of the meadows and of the lakes has separated, and which at a later period of history has been smelted by the peasants. The want of objects of the iron-period in Denmark can moreover scarcely be satisfactorily explained, unless we acknowledge that the art of smelting iron ore, like the civilization of the iron-period generally, must have reached Denmark later than the other parts of the North, where iron occurs in infinitely greater masses. This circumstance appears to be confirmed, both by the nature of the barrows, and by the progress of the peopling of Scandinavia, which subject will be discussed in a future page. A comprehensive consideration of the antiquities in the different countries of the North, taken as a whole, will plainly shew that the three northern kingdoms have by no
