The Viking Age. Volume 2 (of 2): The early history, manners, and customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking nationsDu Chaillu, Paul B. (Paul Belloni)
History
The Viking Age. Volume 2 (of 2): The early history, manners, and customs of the ancestors of the English-speaking nations
A remarkable rock-tracing, which I reproduce from ‘The Land of the
Midnight Sun,’ shows horsemen with quadrangular shields; these shields
are seen on some Egyptian bas-reliefs, and two somewhat similar ones
have been found in England. Either the people represent themselves on
this engraving, or some foreign men which the carver of this memento had
seen.
The question naturally arises, did the people of the large Scandinavian
peninsula learn the art of rock-tracing from the Egyptians, if we take
for granted that they went there? There is a roughness of design which I
think seems to preclude that these engravings on stones could have been
made by Egyptians coming North. The very great number seems to imply
that they were made by the inhabitants, that the art flourished for
quite a long time, and that on the return of their warlike expeditions,
either from the north or south, they and some of the people illustrated
the deeds of their heroes.
One of the finest tracings, which is about 66 feet in length and 20 feet
in height, is near a small stream by the bridge at Hvitlycke. Among the
prominent figures, of which there are over one hundred, is a large man,
probably a champion, with a shield and spear, attacking another; in
another part, two men fighting with axes; in another a large snake
attacks a man much smaller in size than the snake. There are also 22
ships, varying in size from 2 to 3 feet in length, but one is about 10
feet long. The earth which covered the lower part of the tracings had
just been removed some days before my arrival at the spot, and they were
as distinct and fresh as if they had been just cut.
[Illustration:
Fig. 900.—Rock-tracing at Såtorp, Tanum parish, Bohuslän. A champion
defending his ship against two smaller ones. Height, 4¼ feet; width,
6½ feet.
]
The large size of some of the tracings shows that a long time must have
been required to complete them, and indicates that the people must have
been settlers in the country. With whatever instruments some of them
were cut, the work, on account of the great number of figures, must have
been in many cases slow. The question naturally arises: Did the early
tribes, who, according to the story, came to the North with Odin, find a
different people, who themselves or whose ancestors had made these
illustrations of their history, or a people belonging to the same race
and tribes of which we have spoken before, who gradually advanced in
civilisation? These are queries which it is to be feared no one will
ever be able to answer with satisfaction.
[Illustration:
Fig. 901.—Rock-tracing, probably representing the death of a warrior
who has boarded a ship. Height, 12½ feet; width, 9 feet.—Sätorp,
Tanum parish, Bohuslän.
]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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