mention the circumstance, that the northern Vikings of ancient times were often buried in their ships, over which a barrow was erected; such a mode of interment however, as far as we are aware, has never yet been discovered in any Danish barrow, although it is not improbable that traces of it might be found. It is perfectly natural that the Viking should cherish the wish that his bones should repose in the ship which was his most valuable possession, and which had borne him to foreign lands, to booty and to fame.
In consequence of the increase of the wealth of the North, which was the result of the expeditions of the Vikings, the barrows were constructed on a larger scale than formerly. Among the most remarkable and most costly of the tombs of the iron-period, are those barrows which have sepulchral chambers of wood; one barrow in particular of this kind has been preserved, which, from its peculiar arrangement and the historical recollections associated with it, has no equal in the North. King Gorm the Old, who at the end of the ninth or the beginning of the tenth century, first united the
"On the same side, near the legs of the skeleton, were found two other appendages of the equipage of this British charioteer, in full length about ten inches. They are formed by two substantial rings, of the outer diameter of three inches and a quarter, joining on strong globular links, being tied together by another strong double link of two inches three quarters long. Like the rest of the articles found, they are of iron, plated with copper, coated with green; and the large rings have a pretty chain-pattern running round them. These articles would generally be pronounced to be the bits of bridles: objects similar to these have often been discovered, and may be seen both in the Stanwick and Polden Hill collections." —T.
