HISTORY OF ICELANO^ 91 



forced him to locate himself on a neighboring promontory, which to this day- 

 bears the name of Ingolfrshofde. Here he sojourned three years, until the fol- 

 lowers he had sent out in quest of the missing 23illars at length brought him the 

 joyful news that they had been found on the beach of the present site of Reyk- 

 javik, whither, in obedience to what he supposed to be the divine summons, he 

 instantly removed. Ingolfr's friend and relative Leif was shortly after- assas- 

 sinated by some Irish slaves whom he had captured in a predatory descent on 

 the Hibernian coast. The surviving chieftain deplored the loss of his kinsman, 

 lamenting " that so valiant a man should fall by such villains," but found conso- 

 lation by killing the murderers and annexing the lands of their victim. When, 

 in course of time, he himself felt his end approaching, he requested to be bur- 

 ied on a hill overlooking the fiord, that from that elevated site his spirit might 

 have a better view of the land of which he was the first inhabitant. 



Such are the chronicles related in the " Landnama Bok," or " Book of Occu- 

 pation," one of the earliest records of Icelandic history. 



Ingolfr and his companions were soon followed by other emigrants desirous 

 of escaping from the tyranny of Harold Haarfager, who at first favored a move- 

 ment that removed far beyond the sea so many of his turbulent opponents, but 

 subsequently, alarmed at the drain of population, or desirous of profiting by' the 

 exodus, levied a fine of four ounces of silver on all who left his dominions to 

 settle in Iceland. Yet such were the attractions which the island at tha! time 

 presented, that, in spite of all obstacles, not half a century elapsed before all its 

 inhabitable parts were occupied, not only by Norwegians, but also by settlers 

 from Denmark and Sweden, Scotland and Ireland. 



The Norwegians brought Avith them their language and idolatry, their cus- 

 toms and historical records, which the other colonists, but few in numbers, were 

 compelled to adopt. At first the udal, or free land-hold system of their OAvn 

 country, was in vigor, but every leader of a band of emigrants being chosen, by 

 force of circumstances, as the acknowledged chief of the district occupied by 

 himself and companions, speedily paved the way for a demi-feudal system of 

 vassalage and subservience. As the arrival of new settlers rendered the pos- 

 session of the land more valuable, endless contests between these petty chiefs 

 arose for the better pastures and fisheries. To put an end to this state of an- 

 archy, so injurious to the common weal, Ulfliot the Wise was commissioned to 

 frame a code of laws, which the Icelanders, by a single simultaneous and peace- 

 ful effort, accepted as their future constitution. 



The island was now divided into four provinces and twelve districts. Each 

 district had its own judge, and its own popular " Thing," or assembly ; but the 

 national will was embodied and represented by the "Althing," or supreme 

 parliament of Iceland, which annually met at Thingvalla, under an elective pres- 

 ident, or " Logmathurman," the chief magistrate of this northern republic. 



On the banks of the river Oxeraa, where the rapid stream, after forming a 

 magnificent cascade, rushes into the lake of Thingvalla, lies the spot where, for 

 many a century, freemen met to debate, while despotic barbarians still reigned 

 over the milder regions of Europe. Isolated on all sides by deep volcanic 

 chasms, which some great revolution of nature has rent in the vast lava-field 



