CELTIC TKACES. 
175 
honourably, and supplied them with provisions, the old 
man bids them speed back to Iceland, as it would be 
unsafe for them to remain where they were. His own 
name he refused to tell; but having learnt that Gudlief 
comes from the neighbourhood of Snaefell, he puts into 
his hands a sword and a ring. The ring is to be given 
to Thured of Froda; the sword to her son Kjartan. 
When Gudlief asks by whom he is to say the gifts are 
sent, the ancient chieftain answers, “ Say they come 
from one who was a better friend of the Lady of Froda 
than of her brother Snorre of Helgafell.” Wherefore it 
is conjectured that this man was Bjorn, the son of 
Astrand, Champion of Breidavik. 
After this, Madam, I hope I shall never hear you 
depreciate the constancy of men. Thured had better 
have married Bjorn after all! 
I forgot to mention that when Gudlief landed on the 
strange coast, it seemed to him that the inhabitants 
spoke Irish. Now, there are many antiquaries inclined 
to believe in the former existence of an Irish colony to 
the southward of the Vinland of the Northmen. Scat¬ 
tered through the Sagas are several notices of a distant 
country in the West, which is called Ireland ed Mekla 
