repaired to the coast of Vinland, in Pomerania, was cured of his numerous wounds by the sister of his first wife, went on a pilgrimage to Rome, and, after many years, died in the Holy Land.[227] From the space which we have devoted to the exploits of Olaf, his character may be easily inferred. The sagas add, that he exceeded all men in two bodily qualities, which are very rarely combined,—strength and agility. On one occasion he is said to have climbed a steep precipice to extricate one of his courtiers, who had ascended to a great height, and could not move upwards or downwards: taking him under one arm, the king descended with him safely to the plain below. With both hands he was equally expert. One of his amusements was to toss three sharp swords into the air, and catch each by the handle as it descended, and, without intermission, again to throw them, singly, far above his head. This game is supposed to be of Indian origin; and, probably, Olaf is the only king that ever played it. He was fond of poetry, especially that which commemorated the deeds of heroes; he was liberal to all his dependents, accessible to all the world, jovial in temper. His attention to commerce was one of his most useful qualities; and whatever arts he had seen practised in other countries he introduced into his own. He founded, at the mouth of the river Nid, a city which was long called Nidross, but the name was afterwards superseded by that of Drontheim, from the province that contained it. In ship-building, navigation, and the arts dependent on them, he had no equal. But, to the close of life, he was a barbarian: he indulged in habitual drunkenness; and he shed blood so arbitrarily as to prove that at no time, except when an assembly was actually occupied in the public business, was he restrained by law. He was, in the truest sense of the word, a despot. Though a milder sovereign could not have so completely triumphed over heathenism,—and he was, therefore, of incalculable benefit to his country, in removing an insuperable barrier to civilisation and morals,—this fact does not in the least atone for his ferocity. In many points, he bears great resemblance to Peter the Great of Russia; though, in all good and great qualities, he was inferior to that monarch. In his reign many important voyages were undertaken; and to these we shall advert in the chapter on the maritime expeditions of the Northmen. [Sidenote: 1000 to 1012.]