Fig. 912.—Rock-tracing—chariots with horses, ships, and hollows.—Jerested, Scania.
What the bowl-shaped hollows, which vary in size from 1 to 2 inches in diameter and are generally about 1 inch deep, and which are shown on the illustrations by small black dots, represent will probably always remain an enigma. The reader will also notice peculiar figures, such as circular rings, divided by crosses or double crosses, footprints, &c. Only two rock-tracings thus far have been discovered, where waggons are seen with wheels and horses attached to them.
Fig. 913.—Stone with round hollows.
In Denmark, tracings have thus far only been discovered on the slabs of passages in graves, such as those of Herrestrup in Zealand, and Ullerup in Northern Jutland, and their absence is to be accounted for by the want of rocky formation.
CHAPTER IX.
WAR-SHIPS.
The Northmen pre-eminently a seafaring people—Figurative names given to ships—Classification and names of ships of war—Ironclads—Swift cruisers—Transport vessels—Foreign ships—Different parts of a war-ship—Oars—Ship’s boats—Tents—Ship’s moorings—Sheds—Launching—Ornamentations—Beautiful sails—Colour of war-ships—Standards—Ornamentation of ship’s sides with shields—The port of Jomsburgh—Size of ships—The Tuneship—Shipbuilding—Crews—Description of a storm.
One of the most important features in the life of the Viking Age was the ships in which the hardy Norsemen were able to rove over the seas of Europe, and conquer and plunder the lands around them. In the Eddas and Sagas these ships are often minutely described, so that we are able to form a fair idea of the shipbuilding art of those days.
The ships were called by figurative and most poetical names, and from many of these we see that speed was valued very highly:—
Deer of the surf.