Every ninth year solemn sacrifices were held in the great temple at Upsal in Sweden.  The king and all citizens of importance must appear in person and bring offerings.  Crowds came together on these occasions, and no one was excluded, except for some base or cowardly action.  Nine human beings were sacrificed, usually captives or slaves, but in times of great calamity even a king was made a victim.  Earl Hakon, of Norway, offered his son in sacrifice to obtain a victory over some pirates.  The bodies were buried in groves, which thence were regarded as very sacred.  One, called Odin’s grove, near the temple of Upsal, was sacred in every twig and leaf.

Sec. 7.  Social Character, Maritime Discoveries, and Political Institutions of the Scandinavians.

Of the manners, customs, and habits of the Scandinavians, we cannot speak at length.  Society among them was divided into two classes,—­the landholder or bondsmen, and the thralls or slaves.  The duty of the last was to perform domestic service and till the ground, and they consisted of prisoners taken in war and their children.  The business of the landholder or bondsman was war, and his chief virtue courage.  His maxim was, to conquer a single opponent, to attack two, not to yield to three, and only to give way to four.  To die in battle was their high ambition; then they believed that they should pass to the halls of Odin.  King Ragnar died singing the pleasure of receiving death in battle, saying, “The hours of my life have passed away; I shall die laughing.”  Saxo, describing a duel, said that one of the champions fell, laughed, and died.  Rather than die in their bed, some, when sick, leaped from a rock into the sea.  Others, when dying, would be carried into a field of battle.  Others induced their friends to kill them.  The Icelandic Sagas are filled with stories of single combats, or holm-gangs.  When not fighting they were fond of feasting; and the man who could drink the most beer was counted the best.  The custom of drinking toasts came from the North.  As the English give the Queen, and we the President, as the first health on public occasions, so they begin with a cup, first to Odin, and afterward to other deities, and then to the memory of the dead, in what was called grave-beer.  Their institutions were patriarchal; the head of the family was the chief of the tribe and also its priest.  But all the freemen in a neighborhood met in the Thing, where they decided disputes, laid down social regulations, and determined on public measures.  The Thing was, therefore, legislature, court of justice, and executive council in one; and once a year, in some central place, there was held a similar meeting to settle the affairs of the whole country, called the Land-Thing or All-Thing.  At this the king was chosen for the whole community, who sometimes appointed subordinate officers called Yarls, or earls, to preside over large districts.  Respect for women was a marked trait among the Scandinavians,