X Its earliest discoverer upon record was a famous pirate, of the name of Naddoc*, who in the year 861 was driven thither by a tempest, while on a voyage from Norway to the Ferroe Islands, and, on account of the vast quantity of snow, with which he observed the mountains to be covered, named it Snoeland. Not alarmed, however, by this chilling prospect, such was the account of the country which he gave on his return home, that others were induced to go in search of it; the first of whom, Gardar Suaversen, a Swede by birth, set sail in the year 864, and after approaching the eastern coast, proceeded round the island to a harbor in the north, where he came to an anchor and passed the winter at a place that has since been called Skialfiord. To immortalize himself for this exploit, he altered the name of the island to Gardarsholme. The next adventurer was Floco, who, as the compass was not yet discovered, to remedy this deficiency, took in his vessel some ravens, one of which, when he supposed he was drawing towards the termination of his voyage, he let loose; hoping by its course to be directed to the country of which he was in search. The bird, however, after soaring to a considerable height in the air, turned his flight towards Hait * Arngrim Jonæ Isl. Tract. land, the port whence they had set out, and satisfied Floco that he was still at a less distance from Norway than from Gardarsholme. Pursuing his voyage, therefore, for some time longer, he liberated another raven, who, unable to discover land, took refuge in the vessel. In a few days a third raven was suffered to leave the ship, and this, more fortunate, immediately flew towards the wished-for shore. Floco, after the manner of his predecessors, first touched at the eastern coast, whence, steering his course round the southern part of the island, he at length entered the great gulph between the two promontories that have since borne the names of Snoefel-nes and Reikanes; and afterwards, proceeding northward, harbored for the winter at Watnsfiordur in the gulph of Breidafiord. So great was the quantity of ice which in the spring of the following year filled the gulph, that Floco was tempted in consequence of it once more to change the name of the island, and give it the appellation which it has ever since retained. He passed another winter in the southern part of the country, previously to his return to Norway; where, on account of the use he had made of the ravens, he afterwards went by the name of Rafnafloke. Induced by Floco's accounts *, Ingulf, a Norwegian of high * Arngrim Jonæ Isl. Tract. birth and great opulence, dreading the tyranny of Harald Hafalgar, conceived, together with his friend Hiorleif, the project of establishing themselves in Iceland, in pursuance of which plan, the former sailed in 870, for the purpose of exploring its shores; but no settlement was made till the year 874, when they both emigrated, accompanied by their respective families. In compliance with a religious custom, at that time prevalent among the Norwegians, Ingulf, on his approach to the coast, cast the doorposts of his house into the sea, that wheresoever they were thrown on shore he might establish his infant colony. Being himself however driven in a different direction from them, he was reduced to the necessity of landing upon a promontory, which to this day bears the name of Ingulfshöfde, in the south-eastern part of the island, and it was not till three years afterwards that the door-posts were found on the shore of the bay where Reikevig now stands; to which spot Ingulf, with his family, immediately repaired, and there built their habitation. Hiorleif, more averse to heathenish superstitions, fixed his abode at a place called Hiorleifshöfde, and employed himself in attending to the cultivation of the soil. He had, however, in the following year, the hard fate to be murdered by the treachery of some Irish servants whom he had brought with him from Norway, and who afterwards fled for protection to the scarcely accessable rocks of the Westman's Islands; but there Ingulf pursued and slew them. Iceland was found by these first settlers to be uninhabited *, though from various little utensils belonging to the Roman Catholic worship, such as bells, crosses, &c., that were met with by Ingulf, he was led to conjecture that the coasts must have been occasionally visited by fishermen from Ireland or Scotland, where this religion was prevalent. The whole surface of the country was overgrown with forests, through which it was necessary to open a passage with the axe as often as they went on their journies. who So great was the number of Norwegians now followed Ingulf to Iceland, to escape from the yoke of a proud tyrant at home, that in the course of sixty years, from the time of Ingulf's first arrival, the whole of the coasts and most of the habitable parts are said to have been occupied. The form of government established among * Arngrim Jonæ Isl. Tract. + Ibid, ‡ Von Troil's Letters on Iceland. the first settlers was a mixture of aristocracy and democracy. Of every new colony that arrived, the principal person appropriated to himself a large spot of land, which he divided afterwards among himself and his companions, whose chief he continued to be, under the name of Godi. The tumults, however, and enmities, inseparable from such a state of society, soon prevailed to a dreadful degree among the neighboring leaders, till, to prevent as much as possible the continuance or increase of these injurious conflicts, a person was chosen in the year 928, with the title of Langsaugumadur, and great power and dignity were annexed to the office. He was the public speaker, the judge in all intricate cases, and had the charge of promulgating through the island all new laws that had been approved and determined upon by the people; but he held his place no longer than he preserved the public confidence. Notwithstanding this, it was still found impossible to maintain peace and order among so many chiefs, who were all of the same rank, but unequal in power. Frequent battles occurred of a serious nature, and the Sturlunga-Saga speaks of a bloody engagement with twenty vessels carrying thirteen hundred men, which so weakened the contending parties that the whole power became at last an easy prey to a few arbitrary and enterprising men, who, as |