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210 EELIGION OF THE NOETHMEN.
the temple at Upsala is described as having been so
large that King Adils rode around inside of it.* It
was necessary, also, that the building in which all
the people of a large district were to assemble at the
sacrificial festivals, should be very capacious. It is,
moreover, possible that this special arrangement was
peculiar to the public temples, which were common
to the inhabitants of a whole district (fylki) or large
portion of the country, while the smaller temples,
which were often to be regarded as* only the house-
chapels of private individuals, were constructed in a
different manner and perhaps more in accordance
with the second of the above-mentioned ones.
"We also find allusions to high board-fences (ski8-
gar5ar, mod. Norm. Skidgaarde) surrounding the
temples, and metaUie rings, which were in the temple
doors, probably for the pujrpos'e of drawing them
up. In the door of the temple of Hla8i there was
a ring, which was thought to be of gold, but which
was afterwards discovered to be of copper within.
The temples of Norway, as well as all other build-
ings in that country in the earliest times, were built
of wood ;
at least, we never find any temple of stone
expressly mentioned, nor is it certaru that the Northmen
out of Norway—in Sweden, Denmark, or other
countries—erected their temples of any more dura-
ble material.
When we find in many places in the Sagas, that
the temples, especially the smaller ones, are spoken
of as being tented inside or hung with tapestry,
» Snor. : Ynglinga S. S3.