ORNAMENT AT l<>\. 



L53 



These and other ornaments which were placed on a ship were 

 not fixed on till it had left the rollers and was in the water. 



" Olaf had a ship made in the winter, called Visund (the 

 bison-ox), which was larger than any other. On its prow 

 there was the head of a bison, gilt " (St. Olaf, c. 154). 



" King Olaf had a ship called Karlhofdi (man's head) ; on 

 its prow was a king's head, which he himself had carved. That 

 head was for a long time afterwards used in Norway on ships 

 steered by chiefs " (St. Olaf, c. 45). 



"Rand had a large dragon, with a gold- ornamented head, 

 which had thirty large rooms " (Olaf Tryggvason's Saga, c. 85). l 



On the top of the belfry (clock-tower) in Ghent is found 

 the figure of a dragon, of which a woodcut is here given (p. 152). 

 It consists of gilded copper-plates, nailed on a kind of iron 

 skeleton. The back between the wings is open. 2 



As King Sigurd was ready to go home, we read 



" Thereupon King Sigurd made ready for his journey home- 

 ward. He gave the Emperor all his ships, and there were 

 gold ornamented heads on the ship which the king had 

 steered; they were put on Peter's church. There they may 

 be yet (i.e. 1220-1240 " ) (Sigurd Jorsalafari's Saga, c. iii., 

 Heimskringla's text). 



The date here given is that of Norri Sturluson. 



Beautiful sails were highly prized ; these were generally 

 made of vadmal, or coarse woollen stuff. The Sagas often 

 mention that they svere striped, of different colours, red, blue 

 and green, 3 being sometimes embroidered and beautifully 

 lined with fur ; but some were as white as the newly-fallen snow. 



1 Cf. also Magnus the Good's Saga, 

 c. 20. 



2 When the Crusaders took Constanti- 

 nople in 1204, the Belgians sent many 

 relics home (these are reckoned up in 

 D'Outremann,'ConstnntinopolisBelgica '); 

 among them this dragon was sent to 

 Bruges. In 1382, Bruges was taken and 

 plundered by the men of Ghent, and the 

 dragon as a trophy was put on the top of 

 the belfry in Ghent, where it still is. 



In Sigurd Jorsalafari's Saga (Heims- 



kringla), ch. 14, and Fornmanna Sognr, 

 vii. 98, we read that Sigurd put the 

 gilded dragon-heads of his ship on Peter's 

 Church (a part of Sophia Church, in 

 Constantinople) ('Recueil des chroniques 

 de Flandre 1837-41,' vol. i. ; Schiern, 

 ' Nyere historiske Studier,' i. 1875). 



1 The Bayeux tapestry corroborates 

 the truthfulness of this, nnd shows that 

 designs were either painted or embroi- 

 dered upon them. 



