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volcano in eruption, the music of the band changed to a hideous blare, and the colours of the flowers and frocks whirled like the fragments of glass in a kaleidoscope. Then he realised that Sanderson was speaking.

"I'm so sorry we're late," he said. "I want to introduce you to my fiancée, the Signorina Assunta Fontana."

Jubb made a wild gesture with his hat towards the lady, who did not seem to observe his confusion and smiled,smiled exactly as the Venus smiled. Jubb gasped, and rolled haggard eyes towards Sanderson and Fontana.

"What on earth-what does it mean?" he he said feebly. And the horrible Sanderson laughed.

"It means that you mustn't post your article," he said. "It also means that we are the happiest people on the

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painful toil is at an end. Our young friend here has discovered the original of the Montegrigio Madonna. After all, it was only a modern work. I hope that you will break the news gently to the poor Princess."

Jubb glared at him for a moment, then he muttered something which might have been congratulations but sounded like "Turkish oil," took off his hat once more, and almost ran for the steps of the Pincian. Friends who have seen him recently assert that he is far less insufferable during artistic discussions than of old. Sanderson and Mrs Sanderson live in Rome with old Fontana, but the little shop in the Borgo is vacant. Fontana paints no more pictures, and it is probable that the great Turkish oil secret will die with him. The Montegrigio Madonna has again become a Botticelli, and is warmly admired by discriminating tourists. Mr and Mrs Sanderson have not the honour of knowing the Princess.

A NORSE QUEEN'S PLEASURE YACHT.

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IT is with a feeling akin to reverence that one first sets eyes upon the so-called "Oseberg Ship"-the best preserved of the three Viking ships which have been unearthed in Norway. This ship has been on view since 1907, but the priceless furniture and other antiquities which were found with it are not as yet accessible to the public. The latter collection which is still in process of arrangement- has been exhibited on a few special occasions, for instance when the learned delegates from many lands assembled in Christiania last autumn to celebrate the centenary of the University there. Outside Scandinavia, however, few people know anything about the treasures which are guarded under lock and key in Christiania Archæological Museum.

Through the courtesy of Professor Gustafson, the curator, it was my good fortune to obtain a private view of this collection a few months ago. Without divulging any secrets it is possible to give an impression of the treasure-chamber which Professor Gustafson is decking with such artistic skill and painstaking science.

The Oseberg ship has served the strange purpose of sarcophagus for a Viking queen, -a queen who lived and died more than two hundred years before William the Norman conquered Britain. "I mentioned that," Professor Gus

tafson remarked with a smile, "to the ladies of the Women's International Council when they met in Christiania, and they were at once eager to know whether she had reigned in her own right. I was obliged to disappoint them by saying that I was afraid that she had not." It is an irony of fate that though this Norse queen's monument survives, yet we have no record of her name and title. Probably she was the consort of one of the many independent kings who ruled in Norway at the commencement of the ninth century, when the land was still split up into a number of petty kingdoms.

Professor Gustafson has from the first been responsible for the difficult and delicate operations in connection with the excavation and restoration of the ship and its contents. The whole circumstances surrounding the discovery are extremely interesting. Let us see how this buried barque was unearthed, after lying hidden and unsuspected through so many centuries.

The Oseberg ship takes her name from the place where she was dug up. This is situated on the west side of the Christiania Fjord, not far from Tönsberg, the doyen of Norwegian towns. The country there is flat, and at one time the low-lying landscape was dominated by a curious isolated mound which formed a well

known landmark. During recent years, however, much of the mound had disappeared before the ploughshare or been carted away, so that its impressiveness had been very greatly marred.

In 1903 the peasant landowner, upon whose land it stood, moved by curiosity, began to excavate. Very soon he came upon some large pieces of timber. The presence of a buried ship was at once

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pected, and, from this time on, the task of excavation was taken over by Christiania University. The find was manifestly an important one. As the ship lay embedded in blue clay, and the mound, formed of peat, made an almost air-tight covering above, the various objects made of wood and other perishable material had kept in good preservation. Owing, however, to shifting of the ground below, the ship herself had suffered considerable damage. Evidently the Evidently the pressure from underneath had been severe, for the bottom of the vessel had been forced upwards into a dome, while ribs and stays had given way in all directions. To piece the ship together again seemed a wellnigh hopeless endeavour. Moreover, the contents of the boat lay crushed in a sort of vice between the bottom of the ship and a heavy heap of stones which rested on the top.

Over the centre of the ship a solid funeral chamber had been built. But, unfortunately, significant evidence showed that this had long ago been

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plundered. Most of its original contents had been dragged out, and fragments of them strewed the hold, where the thieves had hewn their way in with sacrilegious axes.

Two human skeletons-both of women-lay within the ship: doubtless the remains of the noble lady who had been accorded such proud sepulture, and of her handmaid, to whom no choice had been given but to follow her mistress in death, as in life.

Besides these human skele

tons, excavation brought to light the bones of no fewer than fourteen horses, as well as oxen and dogs, who had all been killed and heaved into this colossal tomb. In addition there were numerous articles of furniture, other household necessities, and various objets d'art. One of the most striking of the latter was a fine inlaid chest. When this emerged, the peasant landowner who throughout kept a keen eye to the financial aspect of the proceedings-concluded immediately that it must contain treasure. He was certain that the chest was filled with gold from top to bottom. Alas! his hopes were rudely dispelled. When the lid was raised, and nothing more valuable than two or three hair-combs lay within, he could only stand motionless and inarticulate, like a man stricken with sudden paralysis!

With scrupulous care the ship was extricated from her bed of clay, bit by bit, each piece being marked and numbered. About two thousand

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fragments were thus collected and conveyed to Christiania, there to be fitted slowly and laboriously together again, almost exactly as she was when first she left the builders' hands. The stout oak beams were "boiled several times this enabling them to be bent back into their original places. In her completely restored condition the vessel now measures 21 metres from bow to stern, and a little over 5 metres at the greatest width. She is very flat-bottomed, and singularly low, there being only a dozen shallow planks on each side. The topmost plank on either side is pierced for fifteen oars, showing that she belonged to the class of ship technically known in ancient times as femtansessa. Mast, anchor, and rudder the regular "steerboard" of antiquity—are intact, as well as a number of oars, remarkable for their neat shape, like that of modern sculls. On the high, curved prow and stern elegant carvings have been executed, whose design can best be studied in one or two new pieces which have been inserted in the course of restoration to fill gaps. High praise is due to the sound antiquarian sense which has avoided any attempt to colour this new woodwork or in any way to confound it with the genuine original.

While one cannot fail to be struck by the solidity of the Oseberg ship, her build gives the impression of utter unsuitability for the high seas. It seems impossible that such a shallow boat could ever have

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been intended for a warship; rather she must have been a sort of pleasure yacht, designed for use on the still waters of the fjord. For such a purpose she is admirably suited. the Christiania Fjord, spangled with fir-clad islands and abounding with sinuous creeks and small bays, such a vikboat-able to move equally well forwards or backwards, and to turn with the facility almost of a Canadian canoe-would run in and out of the winding channels with perfect ease and safety.

Not that the craft in which the Norsemen raided and ravaged were widely different from the Oseberg ship. As Keary's standard work on the Vikings in Western Christendom has pointed out, we must think, when picturing the Viking warships, of the shallow boats, pointed at each end, which are to be seen to-day on the Norwegian lakes, adding to them high, curved prows, sternposts, and sails. "The last were probably like the fine square sails of the modern sailing craft, which, though they have not the beauty of the bird-like felucca sail, have a certain grandeur, a certain impressiveness indescribable to those who have never seen them coming slowly round some headland or appearing above some low island on the Norwegian coast. The high prows of the Viking ships were carved into the shape of a fantastic animal, most often the likeness of a dragon or a worm. The most famous among such ships in Scandinavian history was

the ship of Olaf Tryggvesson, arms and gold and food and called The Long Worm.' There wine. They set the pyre alight, would be no great difference and launch the ship. We can in type between such vessels see it drive, with its wide sail and the Oseberg ship. spread to the east wind. On the shore the gods watch the flaming ship; night closes in, still they gaze out to sea, straining tearless eyes to catch the last flare and shower of sparks as the ship plunges for ever beneath the wine - dark wave.

A dragon ship sunk in the earth! What motive governed the choice of this bizarre coffin for the bones of a dead Norse queen?

The answer must be sought in relation to the Norseman's creed-a creed largely shrouded in obscurity. True, we know something of the ancient Viking's eschatology-of his brilliant visions of Valhalla, of the gods and heroes who spend each day in desperate, generous combat

"'Mid dust, and groans, and limbs lopped off, and blood;

But all at night return to Odin's hall, Woundless and fresh; such lot is theirs in heaven."

Nevertheless, the clues which myth and history yield are all too slight. They lead us to the threshold of the Norseman's belief; but they do not admit

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the innermost presence, where we might learn all that he dreamed and feared and hoped of the soul's faring beyond the grave.

In the myth of Balder-the stripling god whose death envious Loke encompassed with a branch of mistletoe, the one weapon against which his life possessed no charm-the gods in Valhalla bury their slain comrade in his ship. They build a funeral pyre upon the deck, lay his corpse thereon, together with the dead bodies of his wife, his favourite steed and hounds, and great store of

Doubtless this myth, like many another, is based on fact; such funeral rites must have been accorded to famous Norsemen in the earliest Viking period. Later, however, this custom seems to have been abandoned in favour of the plan of burying the dead noble, still indeed in his ship, but beneath an earthen "barrow." Such sepulture, if inferior from a spectacular point of view, offered one decided advantage. It provided a lasting monument in the landscape. Whether on this or some other account, it certainly became a favourite proceeding in the later Viking age.

Now these two closely related modes of burial argue a firm belief in some future life. Not for nothing did the living make such careful provision for the dead. Confident that their companion had passed from their midst to some other existence- an existence differing but little from that which he had left-they did their best to furnish him with all he might need: with ship and wartackle, servants, cattle, clothing, food, and drink.

Moreover, it is clear from

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