2 6o Norway and the Norivegians 



probable, seeing that the keel of the Christiania boat 

 with its sixteen benches is sixty feet. 



The admiration which all the vessels of Olaf excited 

 at Svold among the chiefs allied against the Norse 

 king is told in a graphic manner in the Saga. 



They mistook one vessel after another for the Serpent, 

 but when the latter did appear it was conspicuous 

 above all others by its size and beauty. ' Many said 

 the Serpent is, indeed, a large and beautiful vessel, and 

 it shows a great mind to have built such a ship. 



'Earl Erik said, so loud that several persons heard 

 him : " If King Olaf had no other vessels but only that 

 one. King Svend would never take it from him with 

 the Danish force alone." ' 



The only rivals of the Norse king's ships, in fact, 

 were those of his Norse rival. Earl Erik, the son of 

 Earl Hakon. 



' Better were it,' says King Olaf, ' for these Swedes to 

 be sitting at home killing their sacrifices, than to be 

 venturing under our weapons from the Long Serpent. 

 But who owns the large ship on the larboard side of 

 the Danes ? ' 



' That is Earl Erik Hakonsson,' say they. 



Olaf Haraldsson (Olaf the Saint) had his large ship, 

 which was carved with a man's head and called the 

 Carlus. No doubt it represented the head of Charle- 

 magne, who, now that the Northmen were becom- 

 ing Christians, was beginning to be appreciated as a 

 hero by people of that Scandinavian race to which, in 

 his lifetime, he had been so inimical. 



We see, then, that among the ships which were owned 

 by the great landowners, there was always the material 



