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28 from the intrusion of the sea into Denmark, but such rude vessels were at most employed merely for short voyages along the coast, or between the different parts of the land. At a later period, however, the introduction of a higher degree of civilization and the commerce with other countries thus occasioned, caused the inhabitants to be no longer satisfied with simple canoes hollowed out of stems of trees, but induced them to construct regular ships in which they could venture with confidence from the coast into the open sea. To sail across the ocean, and to wield the sword in sanguinary conflict, for the sake of winning glory and booty, formed from the earliest times the occupation and the delight of the inhabitants of the North. They were therefore evidently seamen as well as warriors. We may regard as memorials of their numerous sharp encounters with their enemies, the weapons which are exhumed in astonishing quantities from the barrows in which they were deposited, beside the ashes of the heroes who wielded them. Among such weapons the swords are particularly observable.

These occur so plentifully that hundreds have been collected, while many have perished in the course of time, and the earth still covers the greatest number of them. They are somewhat short, seldom more than two feet six inches in length, generally shorter and two-edged, so that the blade is thickest in the middle. From this circumstance