Page:Primevalantiquit00wors.djvu/69

Rh it is probable that these swords were more used for stabbing than for cutting. The hilts in some cases are of wood, and have been fastened to the handle with nails; in others they are of bronze melted and spread over a nucleus of clay, the reason of which in all probability is that metal was then very precious. In some few specimens the handles are covered with plates of gold, or wound round with gold wire. It is not superfluous to observe that these handles are always very small, a fact which tends to prove that the men who used these swords were but of moderate stature and by no means so gigantic as many have represented the ancient inhabitants of Denmark to have been. The scabbards for these swords, were of wood, covered both externally and internally with leather, and also for the most part guarded with metal at the end. One of the peculiar characteristics of the bronze swords is that they were never provided with guards at the handle, either in the form of plates or points, and in this circumstance they differ from all modern swords. On the other hand, the daggers and lance-heads of bronze were of a form similar to those of later date, which are of iron. The spear-heads were about twelve inches in length, and were probably made for the insertion