Ingulf was followed by several Norwegian chiefs, and by a multitude of simple freemen, who desired “to live far away from tyrannical kings and jarls.” In general, each new community chose for itself some habitable valley, fixed its boundaries, erected a rude temple to the gods, and provided for the civil no less than the religious administration. Of the jarls contemporary with Ingulf, Thorolf was the most celebrated. Descended, in popular opinion, like many other chiefs, from the divine race which had held the government of the country, Thorolf was at once the head of his clan and the pontiff of his religion. Attached to the great temple of Thor, on one of the islands close to the Norwegian coast, furnished with a venerable beard, endowed with many vassals, many flocks and herds, and a wide domain, Thorolf was one of the most influential chiefs in the north of that kingdom. But he had the misfortune to incur the wrath of Harald Harfagre, by giving an asylum to Biorn, one of his kinsmen, who was persecuted by that monarch. From a _Thing_, or public assembly of the province, Harald obtained a decree of outlawry against Thorolf, if, within a given period, he failed to surrender Biorn. To ascertain the will of the gods, whether he should give himself up to the king or flee to Iceland, he sacrificed to Thor, and the reply favoured the latter project. No less devout than Ingulf, he took with him the statue of Thor, the earth on which the throne had stood, and a portion of the temple. Approaching the island, he threw into the sea the wooden columns which had supported the sanctuary; and, as his predecessor had done ten years before him, settled on the spot to which the elements carried them. Marking the boundaries of his new domain by walking round it with a flaming brand and setting fire to the grass, his next object was to build a large house, and then a large temple, in which he was to officiate as the high-priest of Thor. There were the same columns, the same throne, the same mystic ring, and the same great altar. The other divinities were placed in the niches prepared for them; and the worship was celebrated with less pomp indeed than in the parent country, but with equal fervour. Close to the temple was the spot where the _Thing_, or judicial assembly of the people, was held, in the open air, in presence of “Freya, and Niord, and the Almighty As,” by whom the witnesses in a suit always sware. The ground of both was held to be holy; for the laws which the ancient divinities had ordained were necessarily a part of religion. This was the ordinary mode of proceeding when any new colony was formed. By degrees, as the cabins of the slaves increased, and were spread over the domain, the aspect of the country became more cheerful. The settlement of Thorolf was soon a flourishing one; it was increased by many new arrivals from Norway; and was at length divided into three populous districts, each of