DOM-PINGS. 369 



fire. On the altar was to lie a large ring of silver, which the 

 temple priest was to wear on his arm at all meetings. Upon 

 it all oaths were to be taken in cases of circumstantial 

 evidence. On the altar was to stand a large bowl of 

 copper, in which was to be put the blood which came from the 

 cattle or men given to Thor ; these they called lilaut (sacri- 

 fice-blood), and hlaut-bolli (sacrifice-bowl). The lilaut was 

 to be sprinkled on men and cattle, and the cattle were to be 

 used for the people (to eat) when the sacrificing feasts were 

 held. The men whom they sacrificed were to be thrown down 

 into the spring which was outside near the doors, which they 

 called llot-kelda. The cross-beams which had been in the 

 temple were in the hall at Hof, when Olaf Jonsson had it built ; 

 he had them all split asunder, and yet they were still very 

 thick " (Kjalnesinga, c. 2). 



" On Thorsness, where Thorolf Mostrarskegg landed, there 

 was a very holy place (helgi-stad) ; and there still stands Thor's 

 stone, on which they broke * those men whom they sacrificed, 

 and near by is that dom-ring where they were sentenced to be 

 sacrificed " (Laudnania ii., c. 12). 



This passage shows that the dom-ring where men were sacri- 

 ficed was different from the dom-ring where the people met to 

 judge ; the former seems to have been always made with stones, 

 while the latter, as we have seen from Egil's Saga, were made 

 with hazel poles. It is probable that many of the dom-rings 

 which are now seen were used as sacrificing places. 



Not far from the large ship-form grave of Blomsholm, in a 

 silent pine forest, stands a magnificent Dom-ring (see next page), 

 a witness of the great past. What unwritten records are stamped 

 upon its stones ! what unrevealed histories lie for ever buried 

 from our sight ! how much they would tell if they could speak ! 

 The ring is about 100 feet in diameter, and is composed of ten 

 standing stones. Near by is the eleventh. In the centre is a 

 huge boulder, overlooking the rest ; its uncovered part stands 

 about 5 feet above the ground ; it is 9 feet long by 7 feet wide. 



" When Thord gellir established the fjordungathing (quarter 

 Things) he let the Thing of the Vestfirdingar be there (on 

 Thorsness) ; thither men from all the Vestfjords were to 

 come. There may still be seen the dom-ring within which 



1 Meaning, broke the backs of. 



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VOL. I- 2 B 



