The Viking Age (Vol. 1&2). Paul B. Du Chaillu

on the way to his sacrificing house, whither he was wont to go. When Thorstein came, he entered the sacrificing house and fell on his face before the stone he worshipped, which stood there, and then he spoke to it. Indridi stood outside the house; he heard this sung in the stone:—

      Thou hast hither

      For the last time

      With death-fated feet

      Trodden the ground;

      Before the sun shines,

      The hard Indridi

      Will justly reward thee

      For thy evil doings.

      “Thorstein went out and home; Indridi distinctly saw him going, and told him not to run so fast. He went in front of him, and at once struck him with the sword of Soti under the chin so that his head flew off” (Hörd’s Saga, c. 37).

      “On the ness stands a mountain, which he (Thórólf Mostrarskegg) held in such reverence that no one was allowed to look on it unwashed, and nothing was to be killed on it, neither men nor cattle. He called it Helgafell (holy mountain), and he believed he would go thither when he died, as well as all his kinsmen on the ness. On the point at which Thor had landed he made the place for all judgments, and there established a herad-thing (a Thing for the district). This place was so holy that he would not allow the field to be defiled in any manner” (Eyrbyggja, c. 4).

      Fire seems to have been looked upon as holy; and it was sometimes the practice to ride round the land with fire, or to throw a burning arrow, so as to signify ownership.

      “Jörund godi (temple-priest), son of Hrafn Heimski, settled west of Fljót, where it is now called Svertingsstadir; there he raised a large temple. A small piece of land lay unsettled east of Fljót, between Krossá (river) and Jöldustein; Jörund went with fire around this, and made it the property of the temple” (Landnama v., c. 3).

      “Onund the wise took up land in the valley east of Merkigil. When Eirik (from Goddalir) wanted to settle in the valley west of it, Onund threw sacrificing-rods to ascertain when Eirik would come and take up the land. Onund then forestalled him, and shot with a burning arrow across the river, and thus took possession of the land west of it and dwelt on it” (Landnama iii., c. 8).

      The chief Blundketil was burnt in his house by his foes. When the chief Tungu-Odd heard of it he rode to the place with the son of the burnt chief.

      “Odd rode to a house which was not quite burnt down. He stretched out his hand and pulled a rafter of birch-wood out of the house, and then rode against the sun (from west to east) round the houses with the burning brand and said: ‘Here I settle on this land, for I do not see any homestead; may the witnesses present hear it. He then whipped his horse and rode away” (Hœnsa Thori’s Saga, c. 9).