WEAVING. 



367 



proofs in the sagas, and also in the finds. From the following 

 description we know what the looms were like. 



" It happened one morning, Good Friday, in Kateness 

 (Caithness, Scotland), that a man called Dorrud went out of 

 doors, and saw that twelve men were riding together to a 

 woman's house and there disappeared. He went there and 

 looked through a ' light hole ' and saw other women who had 



Fig. 1343. Ancient loom from the Faroes in Bergen Museum. 



set up a web on the loom. The weights (whorles) were human 

 heads, but the woof and the warp were intestines of men, a 

 spear was used as a spindle and an arrow as a shuttle " (Njal 

 Saga). 



Whorls are very common in the graves. 

 Many examples occur of women taking to the profession 

 of arms, and often fighting as bravely as the most valiant 



