H. W.
Nottingham.
Practice of Scalping.—Your correspondent T. J. will find in Mr. Layard's Nineveh and its Remains (vol. ii. p. 374.) the following note:—
"The Scythians scalped and flayed their enemies, and used their skins as horse trappings."—Herod. iv. 64.
G. R.
Greenock.
Scalping.—Perhaps your correspondent T. J. (Vol. ii., p. 12.) may recollect the allusion to "scalping," in Psalm lxviii. 21.; upon which verse an argument has been based in favour of the supposition, that the aborigines of America are derived from the ten tribes of Israel.
J. Sansom.
Derivation of Penny (Vol. i., pp. 384. 411.).—Akerman's Numismatic Manual (p. 228.) has, under the head of "Penny," the following remarks:—
"The penny is next in antiquity. It is first mentioned in the laws of Ina. The term has been derived by various writers from almost every European language; but the conjecture of Wachter, as noticed by Lye, seems the most reasonable. This writer derives it from the Celtic word pen, head; the heads of the Saxon princes being stamped on the earliest pennies. The fact of the testoon of later times having been so named, certainly adds weight to the opinion of Wachter."