396 HISTORY OF CERTAIN 
after themselves and their affairs. And these 
comprehensive terms owe their origin to the 
habits of the people. Restless, roving, like the 
Nomad tribes of antiquity, they were constantly 
making their “fyrds,” or adventures. Not how- 
ever, like them did they move with their families, 
and their flocks, and their herds, to seek pasturage 
for a season; but they left their families fre- 
quently behind them, their near and dear rela- 
tions in some remote and secluded spot, trusted 
themselves to the winds and waves, and sought 
their livelihood on the great deep, and the coun- 
tries to which it carried them. To “go well” 
and to “return well” was, therefore, to them all 
important. All was included in their “ farewell” 
and their “ welfare,” and they have transmitted 
to us the two words, to remind us of the perils to 
which our forefathers were subjected; and, like- 
wise to include for their more fortunate offspring — 
all it is possible for two words to express—even 
under our more favoured and fortunate circum- 
stances. For we too, though we have populous 
cities and a numerous fixed population, inherit the 
propensities of the race from which we are chiefly 
sprung. They were restless in body, we are 
restless in mind. Their brawny right arms, and 
certain right hands, were to them sure guarantees 
