Although there is a curious similarity between this incident and that related in chap. lxxi. on the occasion of the visit of Bishop John to the Orkneys, yet the fact of Earl Rögnvald turning the procession into ridicule, whereas Bishop John’s party appear to have been received with all due respect, suggests that the two narratives can scarcely refer to the same incident. The reference here to the “isle Elon,” taken in connection with the statement in chap. xcix. that there were monks on Eller Holm (named “Helene-holm” by Fordun), may mean that there was a colony of clerics on the little island, whose dress and tonsure may thus have tickled the fancy of the rhyming Earl. In the rental of Shapinsay (1642), Elgin-holme is set in feu to Sir John Buchanan for payment of 12s. annually. In 1529 Jo. Ben mentions that there were foundations of houses and even of a chapel on Eloerholme, though it was then waste and uninhabited (see chap. xcix). Neale notices “the ruins of a very small chapel” on Ellerholm (Ecclesiological Notes, p. 111). Footnote 341: The Iceland Annals place Earl Rögnvald’s winning the Orkneys in the year 1136. Footnote 342: Evie Sound; from _Efja_, now Evie. Footnote 343: _Húdfat_—skin-bags, or sleeping haps, made of hides sewed together, so as to envelope the sleeper as in a sack. Footnote 344: Still known as the Swelkie, a dangerous whirlpool in certain states of the tide, off the island of Stroma, fabled to be caused by the waters being sucked down through the eye of the quern “Grotti,” which once belonged to King Fródi. Grotti was found in Denmark, and was the largest quern that had ever been known. It would grind for King Fródi gold or peace, which he pleased. But the sea-king M['y]sing took Grotti, and caused white salt to be ground in his ships till they sank in Pentland’s Firth. This is why the Swelkie has been there ever since. As the waters fall through the eye of the quern, the sea roars as the quern grinds; and, moreover, this is how the sea first became salt.—(Elder Edda, Grottasöng.) Traces of this legend still linger in the locality. Footnote 345: