214 TRADERS AND TRADING-SHIPS. 



the traders were ready to go it is said that Thrand of Gata 

 came there one morning in a skiita and spoke to Rath privately, 

 saying he had two young thralls to sell him. Rafn said he 

 would not buy them before he saw them. Thrand led forward 

 the two boys with the hair shaved off, in white garments ; they 

 were fine looking, but swollen in the face from grief. When 

 he saw the boys Rafn asked : ' Are not these the sons of Brestir 

 and Beinir, whom you killed a short while ago? ' ' Certainly, 

 I think so,' said Thrand. ' They will not come into my hands,' 

 said Rafn, ' for property.' ' Then let us both yield,' said Thrand ; 

 'take here two marks of silver which I will give thee if thou 

 takest them away with thee, so that they henceforth will never 

 come to the Faeroes.' He poured the silver into the lap of 

 the steersman, counted it, and showed it to him. Rafn liked 

 the silver well, and it was agreed that he should receive the 

 boys. Ho sailed when he got a fair wind, and landed where 

 he wished in Norway east at Tiinsberg ; he stayed there during 

 the winter, and the boys with him, and they were well treated " 

 (Faereyinga Saga, c. 8). 



In hard years the exportation of grain was forbidden. 



"At Omd, in Thrandarnes, lived a chief named Asbjorn. 

 He had three feasts every winter, as was the custom of his 

 father. Then the crops began to fail and bad years came, and 

 his mother wanted him to omit some or all of the feasts ; but 

 he would not, and bought corn or had it given to him as a 

 gift. One summer he could get no more corn. It was said 

 from the south of the country that King Olaf forbade to carry 

 corn, malt and meal from the south northwards. Then Asbjorn 

 went on his ship with twenty men, and sailed southward till 

 they came to Ogvaldsnes. Asbjorn asked the king's steward, 

 who lived there, if he would sell corn. He told them that the 

 king had forbidden the selling of corn from the south to the 

 north. Then Asbjorn got corn from the thralls of the chief 

 Erling Skjalgsson, who was the brother of Asbjorn's mother. 

 The king's steward went with sixty men out on Asbjorn's ship, 

 and took the corn and his sail besides, and gave him another 

 bad sail. Asbjorn slew the steward some time after, when Olaf 

 was at a feast in the steward's house " (St. Olaf's Saga, 

 c. 123). 



Weights and balances were known to the Norse from very 

 early times, as the finds prove ; and their standard of measure- 

 ment was the ell. 



