SOLSKOTT. 305 



whilst the remainder of the men, as Mell as the women, 

 were reserved for servitude. 



The palace was stripped of all its valuables, and the 

 church sacrilegiously despoiled of the Holj^ Cross, &c. 

 On the Wemlian king entering the sacred edifice, it is 

 said that, after looking around him in wonderment far 

 some time, he, in like manner as Titus when in the 

 Temple of Jerusalem, exclaimed, "The raising of this 

 structure evidences much love to the God to whom it is 

 dedicated, but to me it seems He was wroth with those 

 whose duty it was to afiTord it protection." 



The work of devastation completed, the Vikiugar, 

 taking with them the plunder they had amassed, and such 

 of the inhabitants as had been spared, hoisted sail and 

 steered their course homewards. About the time of St. 

 Laurence's Day it is not unusual to experience what is 

 acUed a Sohkotl, that is, a sudden and suffocating heat. 

 Such occurred as the pirates were about departing. 

 King Rettibur inquired of Parson Brunsson, who was 

 amongst the prisoners, the cause of the phenomenon. 

 The worthy man, either from design or conviction, 

 replied that "it was a token of wrath on the part 

 of the God of the Christians, because the Holy Cross 

 was in the power of the unbaptized, and that even 

 Avorse might happen." On hearing this, the heathens 

 forthwith put Iiim, together with the Cross, and other of 

 his TrolUy(j, or sorcery w ares, as they called them, into a 

 boat, which was pushed from vessel to vessel until it 

 reached the shore. 



The other captives were carried to Wendia, and but few 

 of them ever lived to revisit their native country. The 

 greater part ended their days in slavery, and those that 

 were ransomed and returned honie resembled men who 

 had risen from their "raves. The recollection of the horrid 

 fate to which they had been subjected weighed like a curse 



X 



