Thorkel Fóstri Sumarlidi’s son, foster-father to Earl Paul, not to be confounded with Thorkel Fóstri, Amundi’s son, previously noticed as foster-father to Earl Thorfinn Sigurdson. Footnote 309: Stofa. In the twelfth century men began to live more comfortably, and broke up their large halls into separate compartments. Thus, a portion of the Skáli at the upper end, where the pall or dais was, was shut off, and called _stofa_.—(Dasent’s preface to the Njals Saga.) Footnote 310: Gefsisness. No place answering to this name can now be traced in Westray, but a various reading of the passage has Reppisness; and there is a place on the south-east side of the island still called Rapness, probably the place here indicated. Footnote 311: Fluguness does not again occur in the saga, and has not been identified. It is the same as the Flydruness of p. 92. Footnote 312: Knarrarstadir seems to signify the district at the head of Scapa Bay, south of Kirkwall. Munch derives the name from _knörr_, a merchant-ship. It is said at p. 110 that Játvör and her son Borgar lived at Geitaberg, which seems to be the place now called Gatnip, on the east side of Scapa, anciently Scalpeid. Footnote 313: Brekkur in Straumsey may have been the name of a homestead in the island of Stroma. There is some confusion as to the locality, however. It is said in chap. lxvii. to have been in Stronsay. The name is not now recognisable in either of the islands. Footnote 314: Glaitness, near Kirkwall, is probably the modern representative of the ancient Glettuness. In the testament of Sir David Synclair of Swynbrocht (Sumburgh, in Shetland), in the year 1506, there is a bequest “to Thorrald of Brucht, and to his wife and his airis, ten merks land in Glaitness, and fifteen merks land in Linggo, with all guids there contenit, and twenty-two merks in Pappale, ten merks in Brucht.” Footnote 315: Harald Gillichrist, who subsequently became King of Norway, under the name of King Harald Gilli. See p. 84, note. Footnote 316: Comparing men. This was a favourite occupation of their leisure hours among the Northmen. A curious instance of it occurs in the Saga of King Sigurd, the Jorsala-farer, in the Heimskringla, where the narrative states that as the ale was not good the guests were very quiet and still, until King Eystein said, “It is a common custom over the ale-table to compare one person with another, and now let us do so.” As in this case, a quarrel was the usual result. Footnote 317: Osló, or Opslo, was the old capital of Norway. Its site is now included in that of Christiania. Footnote 318: Hauga-Thing, so called apparently because the place of meeting was a _haug_, or barrow. Whether this was a local name at Túnsberg, or whether it refers to a special assembly held at the burial-place of the King, is not clear. Footnote 319: