_Ingigerth is the fairest of the women._--Professor RAFN. [Sidenote: _Plate XII._] No. XXIV. No interpretation of this is offered by the learned Professors. Nos. XXV. and XXVI. A Dragon and Worm Knot.--Professor STEPHENS. No. XXV. This is a Dragon drawn with art. There is a similar one on a stone at Hunstead in Scania. It may be ascribed to the heathen times, as well as the construction of the barrow itself.--Professor RAFN. No. XXVI. A serpentine winding like those found on Runic stones in the Scandinavian north and on other monuments from the last period of heathenism, and the commencement of the Christian era.--Professor RAFN. [Sidenote: _Plate XIII._] The remaining Nos. are considered by all the learned Professors as "scribbles" or scratches, and must be considered as unimportant. [Illustration: PLATE VII.] [Illustration: PLATE VIII.] [Illustration: PLATE IX.] [Illustration: PLATE X.] [Illustration: PLATE XI.] [Illustration: PLATE XII.] [Illustration: PLATE XIII.] Footnotes: [1] The country people state that the building was formerly inhabited by a person named Hogboy, possessing great strength. Haugbuie, in Norse, signifies "the ghost of the tomb;" and Haugr, "tumulus." [2] Professor Rafn says Lothbrok--a pair of shaggy trousers--was the well-known surname of Ragnar Lodbrok. At the time of the carving of the inscription, a popular tradition current in the Orkneys may have ascribed to far antiquity, and to the said hero of the mythico-historical times, the construction of the barrow; and on account of the want of historical knowledge, since the word lothbrok is of feminine gender, the hero may have been mistaken for a woman, and besides, the accounts in the sagas of his sons may have been repeated, that they were brave and valiant. The account given in the Fridthiofs Saga of the Earl Angantyre, reminds us of the pre-historic times of the Orkneys (_vide_ Tridthjoss Saga, c. 5. Thorsteins Saga Vikings). Here a popular tale preserved to us in Runes, does the same by telling us that this barrow was the sorcery platform erected of old for the use of Lodbrok, and was probably also a temple and place of worship. [3] The word read by Professor Rafn, Maur, instead of Mar, and considered as a proper name, is read mair or more by Professor Stephens. In the engraving No. 7, the letters are [rune] [rune] [rune] [rune] obviously m, a, i, r--mair. It must therefore be a matter of doubt whether we can receive this word as a proper name, and consequently whether the derivation of the word Maes-Howe, suggested by Professor Rafn, is admissible.