the boiled flesh of horses and cattle was added, as a rare delicacy, occasionally.  In war their customs were very barbarous.  The Scythian who slew an enemy in battle immediately proceeded to drink his blood.  He then cut off the head, which he exhibited to his king in order to obtain his share of the spoil; after which he stripped the scalp from the skull and hung it on his bridle-rein as a trophy.  Sometimes he flayed his dead enemy’s right arm and hand, and used the skin as a covering for his quiver.  The upper portion of the skull he commonly made into a drinking-cup.  The greater part of each day he spent on horseback, in attendance on the huge herds of cattle which he pastured.  His favorite weapon was the bow, which he used as he rode, shooting his arrows with great precision.  He generally carried, besides his bow and arrows, a short spear or javelin, and sometimes bore also a short sword or a battleaxe. [PLATE CXLVI., Fig. 3.]

The nation of the Scythians comprised within it a number of distinct tribes.  At the head of all was a royal tribe, corresponding to the “Golden Horde” of the Mongols, which was braver and more numerous than any other, and regarded all the remaining tribes in the light of slaves.  To this belonged the families of the kings, who ruled by hereditary right, and seem to have exercised a very considerable authority.  We often hear of several kings as bearing rule at the same time; but there is generally some indication of disparity, from which we gather that—­in times of danger at any rate—­the supreme power was really always lodged in the hands of a single man.

The religion of the Scythians was remarkable, and partook of the barbarity which characterized most of their customs.  They worshipped the Sun and Moon, Fire, Air, Earth, Water, and a god whom Herodotus calls Hercules.  But their principal religious observance was the worship of the naked sword.  The country was parcelled out into districts, and in every district was a huge pile of brushwood, serving as a temple to the neighborhood, at the top of which was planted an antique sword or scimitar.  On a stated day in each year solemn sacrifices, human and animal, were offered at these shrines; and the warm blood of the victims was carried up from below and poured upon the weapon.  The human victims—­prisoners taken in war—­were hewn to pieces at the foot of the mound, and their limbs wildly tossed on high by the votaries, who then retired, leaving the bloody fragments where they chanced to fall.  The Scythians seem to have had no priest caste; but they believed in divination; and the diviners formed a distinct class which possessed important powers.  They were sent for whenever the king was ill, to declare the cause of his illness, which they usually attributed to the fact that an individual, whom they named, had sworn falsely by the Royal Hearth.  Those accused in this way, if found guilty by several bodies of diviners, were beheaded for the offence, and their original accusers received their property.  It must have been important to keep on good terms with persons who wielded such a power as this.