142 



WAR-SBIPS. 



From the Sagas we infer that ships had but one mast. 



Sometimes they had a Hun-Kas'ali (knob castle), or crow's- 

 nest, at the mast-head, large enough to hold several war- 

 riors, who from such a height could throw missiles at their 

 enemies. 



King Hakon Herdibreid was going to battle against King 

 Ingi. 



" He (Hakon) had two east-journey Knerrir, which lay outside 

 his ships. On them, and also in the prows 

 of both, were hunkastalis " ( c. 5, Hakon 

 Herdibreid). 



" They (Hakon's men) prepare themselves 

 for pouring down stones and shots from the 

 hunkastalis on board the trading-ships " (c. 

 9, Hakon Herdibreid). 



Fig. 915. On a stone. Alsno parish in Upland, 

 Sweden. Ship with crow's nest. 



Fig 916. Bautastone. Harestad, 

 Upland, Sweden. Ship with 

 crow's nest. 



The different parts of a ship were the lypting l an elevated 

 place, where the commander stood and steered, and from which 

 he could survey the whole scene of battle ; stafn (prow) ; 

 rausn (forecastle) ; fyrir-runi (foreroom), so called, probably, 

 on account of its being before the mast ; and krapparum, the 

 third room from the stern. 



1 In the lypting seems to have been 

 the sleeping-room, for in Harald Har- 

 dradi's Saga, c. 22, it is said of Harald, 



on his journey from Constantinople, that 

 " in the evening (he) went to sleep in 

 the lypting of his ship." 



