CHAPTEE VI 



THE SAGAS 



Let us go back to tlie foundation of the colony in Ice- 

 land. The earliest settlers in the island had gone 

 thither, as would appear, from some portions of the 

 British Islands, very largely, probably, from Ireland, 

 For many Irish or Highland names are mentioned 

 among those of the early settlers. A considerable num- 

 ber of these foreigners were brought to the country as 

 thralls of the Norsemen. But there were also not a 

 few who went thither as freemen, and took land along- 

 side the Scandinavian settlers. One of the two heroes 

 of the celebrated Saga called Njdla, Gunnar of Litha- 

 rendi, namely, was the third in descent from an Irish 

 settler in Iceland. The other hero of the Saga (to which 

 he has given his name) must have had some Irish parent- 

 age; for his name, Njal, is really Irish, not Scandinavian. 

 It is the same as Niel in the family of O'Niel. And 

 though the name became acclimatized in the Scandina- 

 vian countries, and has remained so to this day (whence 

 the common Christian name Niels w^hich we find in 

 Iceland, in Norway or Sweden, and the numberless 

 Nielsens, Nilssons, etc., among Scandinavian surnames), 

 it exists only in virtue of acclimatization ; and wher- 

 ever found it betokens, we may feel sure, some Irish 



122 



