bäume, that is to say, of stems of oaks which have been hollowed out for the purpose of being used as coffins, and which he says not improbably belonged to the times of Alamannic heathendom, possibly to as early a period as the fourth century. The particulars of this discovery have been made known by the Wurtemburg Antiquarian Society, but unfortunately I have not succeeded in obtaining a sight of the book in which they are recorded. This I the more regret, as it is obvious from the mention which Grimm makes of the various articles of wood found at the same time, such as the death-shoes, (the German Todten Schuh, the Helskô of the old Norsemen,) the symbolical wooden hands, and a musical instrument somewhat resembling a violin, that this discovery is calculated to throw great light upon ancient funereal rites[1], and upon the mythology on which those rites were founded.
- ↑ The following extract from the article 'Madagascar' in the Encyclopædia Metropolitana, is so curiously illustrative of the present subject, that I cannot refrain from adding it in the shape of a note. "Their funeral rites have a considerable resemblance to those of the Bechwána tribes on the opposite coast of Africa. The nearest relations assemble at the house of the deceased, the men with their heads and beards shorn, the women wearing a cap as a sign of mourning. The corpse is richly ornamented with rings, chains, coral, &c., and wrapped up in its finest clothes. The women dance and bewail alternately, the men perform feats of arms. Others, in an adjoining room, extol the deceased, ask why he died? Whether he had not gold, cattle, slaves enough? And in this wild alternation of lamentation and feasting, the first day of mourning is past. A tree is then cut down for the coffin, hollowed out, sprinkled with the blood of a slaughtered ox or cow, consecrated by prayer, and finally carried, the corpse having been enclosed in it, by six relations of the deceased, to the family burial-place, (amunukŏ,) and deposited outside of the enclosure surrounding it. A fire is made at each corner of the burying-ground, frankincense is sprinkled upon the embers, the head of the family, standing at the gate calls aloud upon each of his ancestors by name, and entreats them to entertain the new comer well; after which the grave is dug, and the corpse interred without further ceremony. In fifteen days' time more sacrifices are made, provisions are placed near the grave, and the heads of the victims are stuck on poles round the tomb."
